School deaths raise questions on disaster preparedness in schools

When parents and guardians hand over their children to school, they believe they are in one of the safest places children can be. However, a stampede that left 14 pupils dead and scores of others injured take the stakeholders in the Education sector back to the drawing board in terms of the safety measures and disaster preparedness in schools and other learning institutions.

This sad event comes on the heels of a similar incident in September last year that left seven pupils dead and dozens injured when the wooden structure that housed their school came tumbling down at Precious Talent Top School in Dagoretti, Nairobi. After the incident, the government embarked on a move that saw several schools closed down for falling below the set safety standards for schools amid uproar from those who were affected. While all this was going on, there was no or little mention of the preparedness of the schools that passed the test in handling natural disasters and other emergencies.