Mounting student unrest calls for re-evaluation of boarding schools

A team of investigators from the Ministry of Education has proposed the scaling down of boarding schools, with the rider that for any school to be licenced as a boarding school, it must satisfy the demands of stringent specifications as a guarantee for the safety of boarders.

Boarding schools were set up to offer convenience to learners; they save students the time they would otherwise take to walk long distances to school; they provide enabling environments for studying since students are not distracted by house chores.

Indeed, boarding schools are the great leveller; it is where students who lack exposure to such amenities as electricity, tap water and even toilets that can flush get their first exposure.

So besides their steep cost, there is a feeling that boarding schools do not serve the purpose for which they were intended.

In truth, boarding schools have bred a sub-culture where breaking rules is the norm rather than the exception. What’s more, students are routinely exposed to vices like sex, drugs and alcohol. Bullying and immorality thrives as recent cases involving prominent national schools have shown. Last year, a wave of student unrest saw 239 dormitories get torched.

But while the teachers and parents and society in general would want to blame the students, it is critical to examine what really drives teenage boys and girls to the edge. In some cases, the blame is on the school boards and teachers. That most schools are run like detention camps where students don’t have a voice. In several cases, students complain of being locked inside dormitories at night which is not only dangerous, but illegal. It does not help that the dormitories are poorly ventilated and often crowded. In some extreme cases, teachers stay away from the schools at the weekend exposing the children to danger. Over time, this erodes the standards of learning and makes school life a tortured experience.