Audit key to safety in schools

This demise of eight innocent pupils at a Nairobi school has highlighted major inadequacies of the system that we must confront. It showed how greed and ineptitude reside in education sector managers and investors. They look the other way as lives are put in harm’s way. It is an open secret that the government has a penchant for knee jerk reactions.

Every time a disaster strikes, officials troop to the scene, address press conferences, toss out appeals then sack a few officials to placate the public. Within the next couple of days, the government has planned a crackdown in which thousands of schools with wanting infrastructure could be shut down and quality assurance officials put to task. We warn that such an operation shouldn’t be carried out without a thorough audit. There is a need for an in-depth inspection to establish gaps and how to address them without detrimental disruptions.