| Kenya school Unrest. Who is to blame? |
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Are we still in post election chaos or what is happening? It began with the Railway workers joined by some civil servants striking because of low wages and poor work conditions. They took to the streets demonstrating for better wages and work conditions. Then the innocent form ones faces watched as their older colleagues marched out of school compounds. In fear and confusion they too joined in the walk out. The students in about 300 schools now, have gone on strike. It has become a domino effect, as one school after another go on strike.
The Mock examination, the last major examination before the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE), was underway and with only one week left, the form four students around the country decided that it was too hard. In some schools the students decided that the school diet is poor. They decided to stand against it and the whole school deal. The students started by destroying property. They began breaking windows. Then the authorities discovered that some of them had up to 6 liters of petrol in the dormitories.
The unrest has not been without casualties. The unfortunate death of Noor Mohammed, assistant school captain and a form three student of the Upper Hill Boys School in Nairobi died as he tried to save other students who luckily escaped with serious burns. He could not save himself. His death is a terrible testimony of the erosion of discipline in Kenyan schools. Two days later during his funeral, form four students in Muranga matched out of the school because they were not prepared to sit for the physics paper in the afternoon.
Over 200 schools are empty as students strike and leave schools. The authority of school boards and school administration seem to have disappeared. Now everyday, families sit down for their evening meal and watch the news as yet another school strikes for some simple solvable reason. They hope that the next knock on the door is not their daughter or son coming home at night two weeks earlier. Poor diet, fear of examinations and bad administration are being cited as foundational for the problems. Why the students have chosen to go to the streets is question that the ministry of education and school authorities must answer.
Most of the problems leading to lawless behavior in schools can be solved through proper administration. However, It seems clear that many school administrators are either incompetent, or are using these crises to discredit the government.
My question is whether this is a follow up of what has been done by the civil servants, Railways workers, Kikuyu Campus of University of Nairobi and earlier action by the university lecturers and teachers. People seem to have taken queue from last year’s elections and concluded that the government of Mwai Kibaki has no authority or teeth to assert its authority. There is no question people have no respect for the present administration. Even the children have taken the queue from the politicians that there is nothing to fear.
The hope is that this does not continue for long. The government decision to suspend all rig leaders, its ban of cellular phone use in schools because they are used to influence and threaten others, and the possible re-introduction of corporal punishment is a welcome move. But the root cause of these problems should be investigated. More commissions composed of important government officials are being formed to solve the problems in the country and it is our belief they will be effective in the end. Our hope is that the secondary schools chaos is just but a hormonal imbalance in the teenagers and it will subside before long. But in whatever situation, schools must remain places of learning not recruiting grounds for hooliganism.
Users' Comments (3) |
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08-08-2008 18:06, , Guest To the forum, throughout my school years I havent heard a single Starehe Boys alumni complain about how life was. Busherians may do so among other peoples. I think its the high handednes by the prefects and the teacher that is to blame sometimes. You put certain people on pedestals the rest of the student population will feel neglected. Instead of encouraging something like a baraza where people work hand in hand with authority, we create classes of criminals...give the students a say on how things should be run and you may be surprised at the maturity. » Reply to this comment...
07-30-2008 11:50, , Guest  I could not agree more with what Mr. Gaitho is saying. Comparing with education systems of U.K. and U.S.A. our children have been given more than their brains can handle. Schools in Kenya put too much pressure on students with that never ending curriculum. The fear of failling makes students worried beyond their capability. Schools want to be top 10s at the expense of students and parents. Give these students enough holidays to rest their brains. Compare with Europe and U.S. where students relax the whole summer without even coming home with books for 3months!!! » Reply to this comment...
07-27-2008 21:58, , Guest Despite all the hoolabaloo about school strikes, one issue is clear, Kenyan students are reeling under academic pressure. Before you accuse me of being a cohort of these seemingly indisciplined teenagers, let me give you a short synopsis. Ashley, my 11 years old daughter is in class six. She left home for boarding school in April two weeks before the official opening day. She will remain there being grilled for KCSE until August, when, pray, she will have a one eek break. And she is in class six! when will my daughter be a child? This is what is ailing our school system. pressure to perform. » Reply to this comment... |
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