How safe are the boarding schools for our children?

This few past weeks, several tragedies have happened that hit mothers to the core. First, it was the tragic death of one young woman by the name Dru Sonko.

Her death was particularly heart wrenching as her husband had shared on social media widely for prayers after she slipped into a coma after a Ceaserian Section. Dru's story stole many a mothers' hearts because of the brave fight she put forth. Sadly she lost the battle.

The second tragedy that shook us as mothers was a tragic school fire at Infill Academy in Komarock that claimed the life of a five-year-old child. The fire started at the dorms section.

Although it has not been established the exact cause of the fire, there are reports that it may have been sparked off by a water heater which some of the boarders were using to warm water. We shall leave that bit on the cause of the fire to the investigators.

This incident has brought to the fore a critical issue - how safe are our children in boarding schools especially those in lower primary who are still very innocent and naïve?

This issue is of such great concern it has even come to the attention of the Government that there are a number of boarding schools in the country that do not meet the minimum basic standards therefore exposing children to grave danger.

And to address the issue, a task force formed to look into school fires by Education Cabinet Secretary led by Clare Omolo has made a raft of proposals to address safety of boarding schools among other pertinent issues. One of the key proposals is that a number of boarding schools should be converted to day schools because they lack the basic infrastructure.

Even as the Ministry undertakes an audit of schools in the country, we as parents also have a role to play. First, we ought to be vigilant when enrolling our children especially primary going, in boarding school. For instance before you enroll that ten-year-old to at that posh boarding school, you need to physically visit the school and do a thorough assessment of the facilities. Go round the dorms and access how clean they are. Check the washrooms. Take a look at the kind of beds the children sleep in. What about the windows. Do they have grills? Remember windows with grills are a death trap when there is a fire.

Do the dorms have basic fire-extinguishing equipment? Ask the person taking you round, if the equipment has water?

Find out, in case of a fire is there a clear exit path for the children. Demand to see it. Visit the school clinic and interact with the nurse. Gauge them. Why am I giving all this basic info? Simple. Not all parents are keen on such; especially we who are always chasing our careers. I know parents who as long as they have identified a school and paid the fees, they just dump the child there, and go on with their busy lives. As parents I think it's time we got more involved in our children's lives.

The writer is a married working mother of a toddler boy and a pre-school girl. She shares her experience of parenting, juggling between career, family and social life.