Most schools are death traps, new report reveals

A block of latrines at Chandera Primary School in Molo which collapsed on October 3, 2019. No one was injured. [Kennedy Gachuhi, Standard].

A new report has unearthed poor levels of disaster preparedness in schools.

It is now emerging that the management of a majority of Kenyan schools are to blame as they are not even aware of the prescribed safety standards, putting into question enforcement mechanisms to save lives.

Also shocking is the revelation that many teachers and learners are not aware of the schools safety precautions, raising serious concerns on risk awareness levels.

The details are contained in a report commissioned by the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) weeks after the Ministry of Education ordered closure of unsafe institutions.

The report, dubbed Status of Education in Kenya: An Audit of Infrastructure and Financing from a Safety Standards Perspective, indicts schools managements and pokes holes into safety guidelines implementation.

Finer details reveal that only half of the sampled schools had inducted teachers and learners on safety guidelines.

The ministry’s schools safety manual demands that schools managements/boards should create mechanisms and procedures that ensure stakeholders are conversant with measures needed to prevent occurrence of disasters and steps required to reduce the impact.

In a majority of schools, the guidelines seem to have been ignored as the report indicts schools management and accuses them of bungling students’ safety by not instituting necessary measures to shield learners from risks.

The survey was conducted following the death of eight pupils at the Precious Talents Academy in Dagoretti after a classroom collapsed in September.

The audit covered 213 schools spread across 21 counties. Out of these, 72 per cent (153) were secondary, 22 per cent (46) primary, six per cent (12) were special schools and one per cent (1) tertiary.

Counties of Meru, Vihiga, Taita Taveta, Isiolo, Tharaka Nithi, Makueni, Nyandarua, Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Muranga, Samburu, Uasin Gishu and Elgeyo Marakwet were covered. Others were Laikipia, Kericho, Busia, Siaya, Homa Bay, Migori, Nairobi and Embu.

In its recommendations, the report calls for a review and harmonisation of all policy instruments and guidelines relating to safety, security and disaster management in the education sector.

It also calls for the creation of a coordinated operational and referral mechanism for public awareness, capacity enhancement and response during incidences of insecurity and disaster in schools.

“Training on safety should target trainee teachers in colleges and those who have already been posted and adequate resourcing for the Quality Assurance and Standards department to address issues of safety in schools,” reads the report.

Overall, the study reveals that only 31 per cent of the schools have active sub-committees on safety while the rest were inactive. And for the few schools that have the sub-committees, less than half (22 per cent), held meetings at least once in the past six months.

The remaining 71 per cent of the schools safety sub-committees have never met.

The revelations put into question the level of seriousness of schools management teams in keeping learners safe in their institutions.