Radically reform boarding schools or abolish them

Bodys of the students who lost their lives during early thursday morning fire at Utumishi girls Acadamy in Gilgil Nakuru county. [Collins Oduor, Standard]

The fire tragedy at Utumishi Secondary School in Gilgil, which claimed the lives of 16 learners and left several others seriously injured, has once again reopened a painful national conversation. It forces us to ask a difficult question: Should Kenya continue maintaining boarding schools in their current form, or is it time to abolish or fundamentally re-evaluate their usefulness?

Boarding schools were shaped in the pre-independence era and later expanded as instruments of access to education, national integration, and academic efficiency. Over time, they evolved beyond academic institutions into structured environments for discipline, identity formation, and social mobility.

However, the current crisis is not necessarily that boarding schools are inherently obsolete. It is that the ecosystem supporting them has significantly weakened.

Several structural challenges are now evident. First, student welfare systems have not evolved at the same pace as changing population pressures and modern social dynamics. Overcrowding, understaffing, and inadequate psychosocial support have significantly reduced supervision and care within institutions.

Second, safety infrastructure and enforcement remain inconsistent. Fire preparedness, emergency response systems, and general infrastructure maintenance in many schools fall below acceptable standards, exposing learners to avoidable risks.

Third, social behaviour patterns among learners have changed. Exposure to digital platforms, peer influence, and evolving family structures has created new behavioural realities that older disciplinary models are struggling to manage effectively.

Fourth, parental engagement has, in some cases, been unintentionally weakened by the boarding system itself, creating gaps in continuous moral guidance and emotional support.

Something has indeed shifted. Increasingly, some educational institutions are grappling with rising cases of indiscipline, including drug abuse, coordinated unrest, and disruptive behaviour often influenced by a few misdirected learners. At the same time, traditional disciplinary frameworks are no longer applied with the same consistency or authority they once were.

This shift is partly a consequence of history. Past abuses of disciplinary authority by some educators led to serious outcomes, including injury and loss of life. These incidents necessitated stronger safeguards under the law. However, the unintended effect has also been a weakening of structured discipline in some schools.

It is imperative that the government urgently implement all existing audit reports and safety recommendations on schools. Compliance with safety standards, especially fire safety, infrastructure integrity, and emergency preparedness, must be non-negotiable. Where institutions fail to meet minimum thresholds, decisive interventions, including temporary closure for inspection, correction, and certification, should be considered.

Beyond physical infrastructure, Kenya must now embrace technology-driven disaster preparedness systems as a core part of school safety.

Kenya faces a defining policy choice: To retain, abolish, or radically reform boarding schools. But beyond the debate, one truth remains clear: the system must be urgently re-evaluated and rebuilt to restore safety, discipline, and purpose in equal measure. The question is no longer whether boarding schools have served Kenya well. The question is whether they are still safe and fit for our children.

Mr Owiti is the CEO of Alexander PR and Communication Network