Bishop Muhatia Makumba urges end to bullying in Catholic in schools

The Bishop of Nakuru Diocese in Kenya, Maurice Muhatia Makumba, has called on heads of Catholic Private Education Institutions to eradicate bullying and abuse in schools.

“In contemporary Kenya, we have been witnessing a culture that seems to condone and perpetuate the abuse of pupils and students by peers or adults such as, bullying, corporal punishment, sexual abuse and harassment, sexual orgies, sexual perversions, violence, cultism, drugs and substance abuse,” stated Bishop Muhatia.

“With effective leadership, educational institutions can prevent, detect and respond to such evils before they ruin our young people,” he said.

The Chairman of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops Commission for Education and Religious Education was speaking Tuesday during the opening ceremony of the 3rd Annual Conference for the Catholic Private Educational Institutions Associations (CAPEIA) at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) in Nairobi.

The four-days conference (7 – 10 March) is under the theme “Catholic Schools: Hubs of Integrity” and is being attended by 450 delegates from all over the Kenya.

Bishop Muhatia further noted that the culture of silence against such evils is widespread and is one of the greatest reasons why such evils are gaining root in educational institutions and called on the school heads to empower their staff to care for their pupils and students.

“As leaders, you always need to remind your staff that they are in a unique position of trust and authority in relation to pupils and  students and have a  distinct responsibility to care for them; to promote their welfare and to protect them from any form of harm at all times,” said the prelate.

Speaking during the same event, KCCB Chairman Bishop Philip Anyolo stated that Catholic Schools are unique because they are centres of academic excellence and evangelization focusing on faith, values and traditions of the Catholic Church to the younger generations.

“Do all that it takes to facilitate faith values and character development of the young men and women entrusted to you by God, parents, Church and State,” said Bishop Anyolo.

The conference intends to provide a forum for discussion on issues affecting Catholic Private Education Institutions and discuss the promotion of a Catholic ethos in education.

CAPEIA was launched in 2015 and brings together nursery, primary, high schools, and colleges run by the Catholic Church in Kenya.

(CISA in Nairobi)

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