Kenyan school launches survival skills training in face of terror threats

Kampi Ya Moto Day Secondary school girls in action along a step-up concrete obstacle during the launch of life skills management training introduced at the school by retired soldiers. PHOTO: KIPSANG JOSEPH

NAKURU: We used to think of schools as safe havens back in the day. Then we began to worry about strangers or estranged family members who might come to schools to look for children.

Next we began to worry about violence, especially after 67 boys died at a school in Machakos, when their dormitory was set on fire in 2001 allegedly by two students.

Then came the terrorist attack on Garissa University College students on April 1 this year, where more than 142 students lost their lives and others left with serious injuries.

Because of these dangers, Kenyans have been suggesting numerous ideas on how to protect our schools. Some schools have put in place safety measures like fences and inspection, while others are yet to do anything.

But as even the Government plans policies to address response in case of terrorist attacks in learning institutions, a school in Rongai, Nakuru County has blazed the trail in trying to ensure safety of students and staff.

Three months after the Garissa University College attack that saw terrorists massacre 148 people, majority of them students, the Nakuru school has introduced a militarised programme aimed at equipping the students and teachers with survival tactics and skills in the face of an attack.

It is a hot Wednesday afternoon at Kampi ya Moto Day Secondary School and the 370 boys and girls are out of their classrooms, sweating and panting in the scorching heat as they clear obstacles; crawl inside bunkers fashioned from empty drums and dodge poles erected on a field in a zigzag manner.

The instructor, who we learn is a retired military man, shouts instructions and occasionally blows a whistle to catch the attention of the learners, who attentively go through their training.

The instructor, identified as Sam Ritho, says it is important to take them through such an exercise. “This will inculcate life skills pertaining to personal fitness and interpersonal communication skills among the learners,” he says.

The students seem to enjoy the exercises as they laugh and giggle while wiping sweat from their faces. The training, says Ritho, exposes the students to responsibility, dedication and duty, both in and outside the classroom.

The training manual includes learners jumping over water obstacles, crawling inside three drums fused together, running through a zigzag structure, ascending a step up concrete block, then crawling inside another straight timber structure and finally jumping over a three-metre-high concrete wall.

The water trench is the starting point and about one metre deep, which the trainers are expected to jump over and immediately crawl inside the drums fixed to the ground.

The programme, launched three months ago - according to the initiators - provides the students with both physical and mental skills and in case of a threat, they can save themselves while in school and in the outside world.

 EASY TARGET

The students were given an opportunity to compete among themselves by going through the five obstacles spread across a distance of 50 metres, with the obstacles positioned at intervals of 10 metres.

“It’s not that Al Shabaab will strike, but we must always stay fit and ready to face and overcome any challenge that may present itself to us along the way,” says Ritho, who retired from the military last year.

It was a beehive of activities at the school’s playground as selected students and staff from the neighbouring Koisomo Secondary also took part in the marathon afternoon training exercise.

To lead by example, the former soldier took a lap around the field alongside the students and staff before taking them through numerous field work exercises ahead of the task ahead. “By introducing this, our sole objective is to produce all-rounded personalities who can perform well in the classroom and are ready to face any kind of challenge in life with ease,” said Ritho.

Lieutenant General Wainaina Njoroge, who was picked by parents as a management board member in charge of discipline, said moving in a zigzag style would not allow the enemy to take easy aim at the would-be victim. Njoroge retired from the military in 2004.

According to him, the training entails three pillars that include how to encounter a provocative situation, moral values and the intellectual pillar.

“Thanks to physical fitness and mental alertness, the students will always receive instructions from the teachers or parents very fast. Approaching examinations will no longer be a difficult task if they take this exercise seriously,” he explained, saying his desire was to see the training duplicated in other learning institutions.

For him, should the learners face a life-threatening challenge, the drill would provide them with the requisite skills to escape by either jumping over a wall, fence or applying the leopard-crawling style unnoticed by the enemy.

“Let it be clear that we are not training soldiers or militants but these are basic training skills in life. It’s not punitive in any way,” he said.

The intensive exercise expected also to improve health and fitness will be conducted once a week.

Ritho said the drills will be harmonised and learners trained on how to remain alert and have sharp eyes whenever they walk along busy streets and crowded places.

“Obstacle training is meant for team work, fitness and joy. It builds alertness everywhere you go, the obstacles must be 10 and the remaining ones will be introduced in due course,” said Ritho.

The school’s principal John Kipsing’ar said the life-skills programme for their students and staff was introduced after the Board of Management sat and resolved to improve discipline and academic performance in the institution.

“The programme will enable learners to remain alert in the classroom and be ready to tackle any kind of threat they face after leaving the school compound,” said the principal.

The mixed day secondary school was founded in 2002.

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