Kenya’s education authorities should take steps to tackle devil worship in schools, a government-appointed committee is quoted as saying by the local privately owned Daily Nation newspaper.
The committee – formed to investigate unrest in schools last year – said that about 48 out of 703 students had admitted to the existence of devil worship.
A total of 17 out of 52 principals, 26 out of 118 board of management members, 15 out of 32 religious leaders and 56 out of 191 teachers indicated that the problem of devil worship, “both serious and not serious, was in the schools”, the committee’s report said, according to the newspaper.
Schools should take spiritual care initiatives, including appointing chaplains and setting aside suitable and ample time for worship, to overcome the problem, the report added.
The report also said that children were engaging in homosexuality in primary and secondary school.
“It is important to note that most teachers avoided mentioning the occurrence of the issues. This could be due to secrecy or fear associated with the issues,” the Daily Nation quoted the report as saying.
Students who engaged in homosexual activity were suspended, transferred to other schools, referred to boards of management for disciplinary action or guided and counselled.
“Most of the students were adolescents struggling with challenges of growing up, including self-awareness, self-esteem, the need for acceptance and recognition,” the Daily Nation quoted the report as saying.
It added that without guidance and counselling, children learned from their peers or other people.
“Investigations carried out on unrest in schools established that some of the perpetrators of the incidents were from dysfunctional families,” the report added, according to the Daily Nation.
More than 100 government secondary schools were torched last yar, prompting government to order the investigation.
