SCHOOL MANAGEMENTS BURNING DOWN SCHOOLS!

Description

SCHOOL HEADS BURING CHILDREN! May 2013
Background

More than 55 students of Kyanguli Secondary School were burnt beyond recognition! Property worth millions of shilling reduced to rubbles; an action by students of the very same school.
In Mazeras School, the story is the same.

Then all of a sudden a heat-fire wave swept through dozens of secondary schools in Kenya leading to untold destructions, confusion and anxiety by both parents and students themselves. It is reported that prayer-time in many homes was extended; basically to invoke God’s power over the children far away from home-in schools.
Many schools were closed indefinitely, with a commission set up to investigate this unique and bizarre trend that was threatening to bring education in Kenya to its knees!

Does it suddenly happen that a student, a human being, can turn wilder than a vicious creature? Could it be that this spirit which has and still is engulfing our children in schools is actually being nurtured by the kind of environment that we subject them to? Isn’t one’s character a result of the society in which he/she was brought up? Treat one cruelly and he/she becomes cruel!

The parents, the government and schools are directly responsible for the kind of social behavior that we see and release from schools. We have withdrawn dignity from these young, energetic creative and highly responsive to social stimuli, by allowing them to live in condition that portray them as less than human beings, and they will behave just that!

The actions we behold in schools are a defense mechanism; for survival and recognition by our children. Let no parent hold grudges against those children who stood in the docks, waiting for them to be handed sentence for mistakes not of their own! The government, parents and school heads should be the ones to stand in the docks!


Justification:

Out of 365 days in year, Kenyan students/pupils in boarding schools spend an average of 300 days in their schools; while only an average of 63 days at their homes. The time spent in schools translates to about 82.19% of their total time in a year!

It goes without saying that the “real homes” to most students/pupils in Kenya are actually their schools! What would otherwise be home is just but sojourning place; a temporary stage from which they go to collect their bankers’ cheque! In their homes, they are passers-by!
As such there is need to trans-locate from government & their distant homes, all that would make their stay and living at school as comfortable as possible; since this is their real home far from home.

Besides noting and agreeing that our children’s real homes are their schools, it is worth drawing this agreement from existing legislations which spells and protects the rights of children.

It is apparent that though there is a whole chapter on BILL OF RIGHTS in our Constitution, hardly do we view our school children as being right-holders or as being entitled to this. The Bill of Rights seems to be a preserve of adults only.

Besides the Constitution, we do have the Education Act 2013, which further strives to build a “safety ring” around the Kenyan child, albeit total exclusion of the subject by the state, parents and institutions.

The Constitution of Kenya 2010
Article 19 (2); “The purpose of recognizing and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms is to preserve the dignity of individuals and communities and to promote social justice and the realization of the potential of all human beings”.

Kenyan children shall be handled, maintained in a manner that preserves their dignity and releases their full potentials. It is emerging that hardly is there a single school which protects the dignity and privacy of the Kenyan child; if the accommodation areas, “wash-rooms”, dining areas, and even the kind of punishment meted on the same (with some punishment/words, eroding the confidence and character of the child), is anything to go by.

Many parents will let their children go to school with uniforms that are virtually rags; not so much because they cannot afford new uniform but because they see nothing wrong in wearing such clothes. The effect is such that the esteem and confidence of the child is eroded, all the way from home to school!

Article 28; “Every person has inherent dignity and right to have that dignity respected and protected”.
Situations have arisen whereby in many schools (without modern sewerage system), students have had to stripe naked before entering the pit-latrines to answer the call of nature! This has been necessitated by the very strong smell coming from the pit-latrine, which has the effect of holding onto clothes of the visitor to the latrine.

Article 58(2); “A child’s best interests are of paramount importance in very matter concerning the child”. The state has an obligation to provide services to the children unless it can prove that it cannot do so!

THE BASIC EDUCATION ACT 2013 No,14 of 2013
In section 4 (n): “ensuring human dignity and integrity of persons engaged in the management of education”.

In section 36 (d) “Provide human resource including adequate teaching and non-teaching staff according to the prescribed staffing norms”;
(e) Provide infrastructure including schools, learning and teaching equipment and appropriate financial resources;

One of the qualifications, (as in the ACT) among many others, for one to hold position of chair in the Education Board: Section 8 (b) has knowledge and at least ten years experience in matters relating to any of the following fields —
(i) Education;
(ii) Management;
(iii) Finance;
(iv) Governance;
(v) Human rights;
(vi) Public administration;
(vii) Law;
(viii) Economics; and
(ix) Meets the requirements of Chapter Six of the Constitution.


OBSERVATION:
With reference to the above, it is clear that there have been, and still are gross sins of commission and omission towards Kenyan children in regard to their lives in school, which is where they are designed, manufactured and released out to the society.

The conditions in most Kenyan schools are no different from those that existed in the NAZI concentration camps during the persecution of the Jews! They are child-play if viewed along the NYAYO HOUSE torture chambers. Time to act is now.

People for Rural Change, a HURINET in Kuria set out to capture the real situation of facilities, take photos of facilities, (dormitories, toilets, bathrooms, classes, dining places, etc) and even get to hear from the victims of state neglect-the students.

We identified a total of 7 secondary schools in Migori County as our case study. After explain our intention to school authorities in all the targeted schools, we were told that they will communicate to us. 30 days later without any communication from any of the schools, we decided to call the school heads about the subject.

They all declined to let us take photos or pursue the matter any further , claiming that they might loose their jobs! One school head had this to say, “It is true that the conditions in schools are really pathetic!”

As these schools heads keep their heads and jobs, young vulnerable children are loosing their heads and future!
Surely, as principles in-charge, one should make tough but helpful decisions. As the school- heads fear being fired, it is a matter of time before ALL our schools are set on fire!

George Chacha
PRCT-HURINET.