Headteachers call for crisis talks as chaos persist

Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association chairman John Awiti addresses journalists at Wildwaters in Mombasa on June 19, 2016. He has called for talks to try to end arson attacks in schools. PHOTO | LABAN WALLOGA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • As Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association chairman John Awiti spoke, three schools were closed indefinitely to avert further damage as more students were hauled to court to answer to charges of destruction of property and conspiring to set schools ablaze.
  • At Wanjohi Mixed School in Nakuru County, more than 121 Form Four students refused to sit an examination and were promptly sent home.

Headteachers on Monday called for a crisis meeting with government officials as the wave of unrest that has gripped boarding schools showed no signs of abating.

Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association chairman John Awiti said the talks to be held at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development on Wednesday would involve the Teachers Service Commission and top education officials with the sole agenda being to end the arson attacks on schools immediately.

“We are very disturbed [about] the fires spreading across schools throughout the country. That’s why we will today meet with all the stakeholders to come up with a long-term solution,” said Mr Awiti, the principal of St Mary’s School Yala in Siaya County.

“Together with all our chairmen from all the 47 counties, we will scrutinize the information we have collected from the affected schools,” he added.

As he spoke, three schools were closed indefinitely to avert further damage as more students were hauled to court to answer to charges of destruction of property and conspiring to set schools ablaze.

OVERNIGHT WATCH

Students at Nairobi’s Aquinas High School were set free after they demanded to be allowed to go home, claiming they were exhausted.

“We did not want to incur any destruction at the school. We have given them letters to take to their parents on when we will reopen,” said a teacher at the school, who did not want to be identified.

Naivasha Mixed High School was also shut after Form Three and Form Four students clashed at the school on Sunday.

“There arose a commotion between the Form Threes and Fours that ended up in a near confrontation, forcing us to call in the police,” said Principal Daniel Mwangi.

Police stood watch overnight, but trouble flared up again on Monday morning, forcing the principal to close the school indefinitely.  

At Wanjohi Mixed School in Nakuru County, more than 121 Form Four students refused to sit an examination and were promptly sent home.

Senior Chief Peter Kamau said the students were ordered to got home after they failed to heed the administration's call to sit the test.

Kiambogo Secondary School was also closed down last week after the students burnt down two dormitories.

SOLVE THE ISSUE
Three other schools joined the list of those hit by unrest Monday as the chaos that has so far affected 94 schools rages on.

They include Lang'ata High School in Nairobi, Kodero Bara Boys in Migori and Ruiga Girls’ Secondary School in Meru where dormitories and a library were gutted by fire.

Speaking on Citizen TV on Monday night, Education Secretary Fred Matiang’i maintained that no school would be closed early as demanded by teachers’ unions, saying that would only postpone the problem rather than solve it.

“What we have missed and am personally disappointed is that we are not engaging deeply on this issue to find out what are the actual underlining causes of the chaos. We are all focused on knee-jerk reactions and responses,” he said.

He said the government had mobilized resources and urged county directors of education to work with county commissioners across the board to address the mess.

SCHOOL CALENDAR CHANGES

“We have realized one thing: where there is coordination between our colleagues and those in the education sector, challenges are detected earlier and sorted out,” he said, and admitted that poor supervision of schools by education officials was to blame for the crisis.

The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) chairman Omboko Milemba and Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Secretary-General Wilson Sossion have blamed the wave of unrest on the changes made to the school calendar by Dr Matiang’i earlier this year.

The second term, initially scheduled to end on August 5, was extended to August 12, shortening the holidays to only two weeks from the previous four.

The third term will last only nine weeks, compared with the previous 12, beginning on August 29 and ending on October 28.

The changes were introduced as part of broader measures to curb cheating in national examinations.

Reporting Ouma Wanzala, Tonny Omondi, Maurice Kalouch, Nicholas Komu and Macharia Mwangi