18 students in court for plotting to burn Nairobi schools

The aftermath of a school fire at Kisii High School. 18 students from Nairobi have been arrested for planning a similar strike. [File, Standard]

Eighteen students from Aquinas High School and Huruma Girls in Nairobi County will be arraigned in court today for allegedly plotting to burn their schools.

Police are questioning the fifteen students from Aquinas and three from Huruma for their roles in then foiled strikes.

Incidents of school unrest in the country has been on the rise in the past month with dozens of schools closed as unruly students leave a trail of destruction.

Hitherto, education and security officials are racing to nip the rowdiness in the bud with arrests and prosecutions.

A report by security agencies in Nyanza showed that more 4,000 students were out of school in the area as school unrests persist.

Last Friday, the regional Police Commander Leonard Katana confirmed that 26 schools were closed between July 1 and 11, adding that 47 students had been arrested.

This has however done little to deter the vice as other measures proposed by the education ministry are flouted by the students.

In a visit to Nyanza, CS Amina Mohamed ordered all boarding schools to double the number of teachers on duty. She emphasised on the surveillance of the school facilities when the students are attending evening preps.

She also directed quality assurance officers in all counties to file a daily report on the security situations in their respective regions.  

His counterpart, PS Belio Kipsang, while in Mombasa warned students burning schools that they would be treated like ‘criminals’.

He also added that parents of students found guilty of destroying property will have to meet the cost of restoring that infrastructure.

“Those involved in the burning must meet the cost of restoring back the structures. Their parents must meet the cost. People need to be accountable for their acts,” said the PS.

Delocalisation plan

Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) has refuted claims by the ministry that the unrests are linked to examinations. They maintain, the mass transfer of school heads is the genesis of the rowdiness.

Knut warned that if the delocalisation policy adopted by the Ministry of Education was not reconsidered, the school unrests would persist and would hurt the education sector.

In a press briefing in Parliament on July 11, 2018, the Knut Secretary General Wilson Sossion said the policy was ill-conceived and had led to the destabilisation of school management.

“From a professional point of view, the sudden change of management destabilises all schools. The issue is the key cause of strikes that have seen a number of schools go up in flames. If not reconsidered, then the policy could destroy education across the board in this country,” Mr Sossion said.