Costly repercussions for parents over school unrest

The widespread of indiscipline that has led to the burning of dormitories and classrooms has brought grave and costly repercussions to parents as they will bare cost to repair and replace properties destroyed in school.

Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. George Magoha issued stern warning to school fire arsonists saying their actions will not only be updated in their profiles but also haunt them during and after school life.

He warned that any student found guilty of burning or planning to burn their school will not be able to transfer to another institution.

“Surely you cannot be more intelligent than us. Anybody who is planning to burn buildings, remember that once you are caught, you will not be admitted to any other school, definitely not a public school in this country,” he said.

He said there is no close linkage between Covid-19 and school fires since statistics
show that such incidents existed even before the pandemic.

“My charge to you teachers is this: What is all this nonsense that students were in
class and fire struck a dormitory yet you all have CCTV’s all over with a manned command centre? It is stupid, it is primitive and must stop. We are not closing any school,” stated Magoha.

Magoha warned students who engage in any form of destruction of school property that severe disciplinary measures will be taken against them.

The CS blamed the escalating cases of unrest and indiscipline on poor upbringing at the family level, exonerating the teachers and school managers from the blame.

“Discipline starts from the family, and it is a fact that quite a number of our families have failed us. It looks mundane and juvenile for somebody in high school to burn a building. What has a building done to you?” he posed.

Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (Kessha) national chairman Kahi Indimuli on his part urged students to air their grievances in an elitist manner instead of burning properties.

“There is no amount of stress that can make you damage property that has been
funded by parents and even the Government. We want to ask students to open up
on issues with school administration so that we can discuss and find amicable solutions,” Kahi urged.

More than 20 dormitories in various schools have been burnt within one month, with security agencies investigating the reason behind the fires.

The latest incident being Maranda High School which was closed indefinitely after a fire burnt a 200-student capacity twin dormitory, with property of unknown value destroyed in the Sunday night incident.

County Director of Education Nelson Sifuna said the institution was closed to
diffuse rising tension that engulfed the school.

“No casualties were reported in an incident that saw six students who are prime suspects arrested and moved to Bondo Police Station for questioning,” said Sifuna

Other institutions shut down yesterday were Garissa High School in Garissa County and Muruguru Girls High school in Nyeri county.

So far, at least 40 students have been arrested countrywide following the school unrest.