- MPs have backed a motion requiring mandatory, structured guidance and counselling programmes in all public and private primary and secondary schools.
- The Ministry of Education has been directed to develop a national policy framework for recruiting and deploying professionally trained school counsellors.
- The motion has called for mental health education, child protection awareness and referral systems linking schools with child protection agencies.
The Ministry of Education will be required to introduce a mandatory, structured and timetabled guidance and counselling programme in all public and private primary and secondary schools, after Members of Parliament backed a motion seeking to strengthen support for learners facing mental health, child safety and other personal and social challenges.
The motion, sponsored by Nyeri County Women Representative Rahab Mukami, also directs the Ministry to develop and implement a national policy framework governing the recruitment, accreditation and deployment of professionally trained school counsellors. The framework is intended to create a formal system through which learners can access qualified professionals able to identify and respond to emotional, psychological and social challenges affecting their education and wellbeing.
Beyond counselling services, the motion calls for mental health education, child protection awareness, personal safety training and life skills development to be incorporated into the school curriculum. MPs further want the government to allocate adequate resources to counselling services, giving schools the capacity to offer support that is both effective and accessible to learners.
The proposal additionally seeks clear coordination and referral systems linking schools with child protection institutions and other relevant government agencies. Such systems would enable schools to quickly refer cases requiring specialised intervention, strengthening protection for learners facing abuse, neglect, exploitation or other risks.
Speaking on the motion, Mukami said schools should play a wider role in supporting learners’ wellbeing beyond academic instruction. “This motion is about safeguarding the well-being of our children. It is recognising that education is not only about books and examinations, but about nurturing healthy, confident, and emotionally stable individuals who can contribute positively to society,” she said, warning that failure to address the psychological and social challenges facing learners risked producing “a generation that is academically trained and emotionally unsupported.”
She added that despite the challenges currently facing school counselling in Kenya, there is broad consensus on its importance to learner development, noting repeated government calls over time for its implementation. Mukami said the present situation demands that the Ministry of Education and its stakeholders strengthen counselling services at both the ministry and school level.
The adoption of the motion places greater emphasis on schools as spaces where learners can seek help with personal, social and emotional difficulties alongside their academic work, with the proposed measures aimed at building a coordinated national approach to learner welfare while enhancing schools’ capacity to identify, support and protect children.
By Masaki Enock
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