Private school owners petition Magoha over closure of schools

Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha. [File, Standard]

Private school owners want the government’s directive of closing schools whose buildings are considered unsafe reversed saying they are ready to rectify anomalies pointed out by ministry officials.

In a statement, Kenya Alliance of the non-formal schools Association said that the lives of over 2 million pupils are in jeopardy since they have nowhere to go owing to Education CS Prof George Magoha’s order.

“The implementation of this directive will have damaging consequences for tens of thousands of schools and over 2 million children from marginalized communities who attend them. Policy decisions that affect millions of Kenyans need to be subjected to careful considerations and scrutiny before being implemented,” read the statement signed by the Alliance’s chair Allan Masika.

The school owners claimed that some officials have misinterpreted the order and resorted to demolishing schools without conducting any safety inspections.

The chairman of the Kenya Independent Schools Association, Charles Ochieng and chair of the Complementary Schools Association of Kenya, Charles Ouma also signed the statement.

“To safeguard the future of over 2 million children, we demand the ministry immediately halt the immediate closure all informal schools and develop a more nuanced approach to inspection and engage in dialogue with the owners,” they said.

The government cracked the whip on schools with substandard structures after classrooms collapsed and killed eight students at Precious Talent Primary School in Dagoretti three weeks ago.