Group formed to check on radicalization in schools
A group of professionals from Eastleigh has started a programme to protect school-going children from getting radicalized by Muslim extremists.
The group, Kamukunji School Empowerment Network, will conduct a school to school campaign within the constituency to teach learners on the benefits of staying away from religious extremism.
The programme is an initiative of Kamukunji MP Yusuf Hassan.
The Anti-Terrorism Police Unit has already identified 18 schools in Nairobi which are being investigated for acting as sanctuaries for radicalization.
Samad Islamic Institute in Eastleigh’s Seventh Street is one of the schools under police watch after bomb making materials were found in one of its rooms during a security swoop.
The new programme, according to the group’s leader Ahmed Kadar, is among a raft of measures sanctioned by the government to tame terrorism and terrorist activities in Eastleigh.
“We will go in these schools and talk to students and pupils about their future given that there are a lot of allegations about some schools in Kamukunji where young people are being radicalized. We want to safeguard their future,” said Mr Kadar.
The programme ‘Let’s talk about our future’ will start in 10 secondary schools within Eastleigh North and all primary schools, he said.
These include Maina Wanjigi Secondary School, St Theresa Boys High School, Eastleigh High School, Don Bosco Secondary School, Kamukunji High School, Our Lady of Mercy Secondary School, New Eastleigh Primary School, Pumwani Primary and Muslim Primary Schools.
“Our aim is to go in all schools in Kamukunji, but we are starting in 10 secondary schools. By the end of the term, we want to have gone in all schools in Kamukunji. If need be we can go out of Kamukunji,” said Kadar.