Stem rising cases of unrest in Kenyan schools

NAIROBI: At the just concluded annual secondary school heads meeting in Mombasa, several outstanding and contentious issues were ironed out. Most of them mostly revolved around better remuneration and working conditions for teachers across the country.

The grandstanding between combative teachers unions, an intransigent government and the Teachers Service Commission had the undesirable effect of occasioning teachers strikes that impacted negatively on learning.

But while there is a commitment to ensure strikes would be a thing of the past and that dialogue would always be given a chance in any disputes arising, it is the hope of many that teachers, particularly head teachers will have enough time to concentrate on the emergent problem of school strikes that have seen quite a number of school dormitories and other buildings torched by rioting students. The cost of such criminal acts to the schools concerned, the parents and society at large is too much.

Several reasons have been advanced for the unrest in schools, but while many are not really plausible, there is urgent need to investigate the cause of the unrest sweeping across schools. The country cannot afford a repeat of say, the Kyanguli school fire in 2001 that claimed the lives of 58 students, or the 1998 fire at Bombolulu girls in Mombasa that claimed 20 lives.

The latest reported case of arson at Iterio High School in Kisii, where seven of the eleven dormitories were burnt down on Saturday by students who were protesting after being denied permission to watch a football match, is clearly a case of indiscipline.

Those found culpable must be punished severely for the disruption and damage caused to school property. It is important that school managements and parents feel sufficiently challenged to ensure high levels of discipline among students while also taking their mentorship roles seriously.