School fires report: Set up special schools for culprits until they are cleared

A special school may be set up for students accused of causing unrests until they are cleared.

The special education investigations team on school fires has proposed a “holding institution” be established to cater for accused students and those in court or under investigations for criminal acts. The report was presented to Education CS Fred Matiang’i last week.

This means students accused of burning schools or leading unrests of any form will not be allowed to study with innocent and focused learners.

In addition, students who join or are suspected to have joined criminal gangs and persons recruiting them should be investigated and prosecuted, the report recommends.

The team however wants all indisciplined learners expelled. It also wants guidance and counseling, and spiritual and parental guidance enhanced.

The report further recommends scrutiny of all transfers and admission cases.

Ban on food and drinks from outside and checks on groupings after visiting days must also be implemented and all students treated equally.

The team has made 68 recommendations that they say will effectively address students unrest and create a better learning environment.

Top on the list is amendment of the Basic Education Act 2013 and TSC Act 2012 to accommodate strict proposals made to tame students’ unrests.

And a multi-disciplinary team to oversee and monitor implementation of the recommendations should be put together, the team recommends.

If the amendments are passed, the new laws will also be expected to predict annual school calendar, spelling out important events and programmes.

The law will also reduce the number of schools’ Boards of Management (BOM) to a maximum of nine, down from the current 19.

The minimum academic requirement for membership of BOMs of all basic education institutions must also be enforced, according to the report. All schools will be required to have a secure perimeter fence with a secure gate manned 24 hours daily.

“Schools should employ adequate, vetted security guards with basic security skills and are not beyond the mandatory retirement age,” reads the report.

The team also wants schools to adopt appropriate security measures such as 24-hour CCTV surveillance, sniffer dog checks for drugs, metal detector checks, random dog security patrols and adequate security lighting.

It also recommended that the County Security and Intelligence Committee be represented in the County Education Boards. The amended law will also establish Sub-County Education Boards that will augment the services provided by the County Education Boards.

Also proposed is full implementation of the past education task force reports. The team says the recommendations of the Wangai and Koech task forces, which were partially or not implemented but are still relevant, should be implemented alongside those of this report.

In the review of the implementation of recommendations of the past task forces, it was found that of the 168 recommendations in the Wangai report, 65 were fully implemented, 67 partially implemented, 33 not implemented, and three were under implementation.

Quality assurance

In the Koech report, of the 122 recommendations, 30 were fully implemented, 45 partially implemented, 38 not implemented and nine were under implementation.

The ministry has been advised to appoint adequate Education and Quality Assurance and Standards Officers within 12 months for effective service delivery.

“The capacity and number of school audit personnel should be enhanced so as to ensure timely and effective audit of school books of accounts.”

[email protected]