Author Reference
Lango, B. (2016). Why Kenyan Secondary
Schools are Burning. Intel Fire Group of Companies Blog. Nairobi, Kenya. July (22).
The statistics on secondary school fires in Kenya in the recent days are sketchy but when the ministry of education was presenting a report at the parliamentary committee on education it gave an indication that there were 67schools burnt in the last few months. To add to this were additional 10 schools burnt over that same weekend and three more on the date leading to this write up. This places the total number of secondary schools burnt at 80. By any standards this is highest number recorded in any one year and more so spontaneously over a short period of time. Were it something a country is proud to celebrate, it would have invited the guineas foundation to award a certificate of a first. This is how bad the situation is. Furthermore, different quotas within and out of the education sector seems to have reasons as to why the schools are burning. Some of these reasons are quite obvious while others are out of this world and may surprise scholars and non-scholars alike. Education field has the highest number of scholars with some having accolades from far and beyond yet there is no specificity on the issues of concern to the students. The reasons advanced so far by different entities include the following:
1. Christian Union Factor and the “Unseen” Forces
If you are seating on a fence where
your religious conscious is leading the way then the most probable reason is
the diminishing Christian union (CU) and the other social religious groupings
within the school. This school of thought has been advanced in the recent past
by Christian leaders within the country who have also sensationally claimed
that there is a third “unseen forces” which may mean the students are largely
possessed by unknown spirits. How else would you explain the burning of
secondary schools spontaneously without a valid reason by students? In a
religious setting in a religious school with a religious society, then the
reason will stand a better chance but as of now it is just another reason.
2. “Burning Corruption Evidence before the
Minister Arrives unannounced”
Stating that the “Magufuli effect”
is only in Tanzania will be a fat lie as Kenya has their own Magufuli in the
minister of education who has effectively and efficiently emulated the
Tanzanian president by seeing for himself what takes place on the ground. The
minister who has changed the tradition of acting on reports presented to him by
his officers has opted to seeing what is actually taking place in different
schools by visiting the schools unannounced. This in recent days has cost some
officers their jobs and others suspension due to lack of accountability and
transparency in the usage of funds advanced to schools by the ministry.
Officers at the ministry believe that the secondary school fires are well
orchestrated by the school managers to conceal evidence of misuse of these funds
and especially the previously allocated that are under investigation. Evidence
has pointed to some teachers participating in the torching of schools under the
directive of school managers. As a non-executive education observer with little
background in secondary education, this particular reason seems valid a reason
and why these managers should be locked.
3. School Managers Poor Leadership Skills
Theorists of leadership skills opine
that good managers are those who are able to think strategically and work
towards achieving their stated goals. Most of the school managers are office-owners
and it ends there as their leadership skill leaves a lot to be desired on their
visionary tasks. Most schools are run by the deputy managers while the managers
have no ideas on what goes on at their school. Capture a manager sanctioning
the building of a toilet worth 3 million Kenyan shillings when the school does
not have water supply nor books and to add an insult the toilet is a 2-door and
does not accommodate the entire population. But worse still is the haphazard
decisions that are single-handedly executed. Again capture a school manager who
disappears from the school for two weeks leaving the students and the teachers
alike without any form of sustenance and literary disappear into the thin air. If
this is a day-school then the severity might be felt at low avalanche however
the opposite is possible for a boarding-school. The minister has advertently
changed all these as they are now forced to stay in school but still lacks the
leadership skills to direct the institution to prosperity. Hence some of the
complains on strikes being as a result of poor communication on the part of the
principals.
4. Ineptitude on the Part of Teachers
Since corporal punishment was banned
in schools in recent times and the ministry formulating regulation to take
disciplinary actions on teachers practicing the vice, many teachers have now
come up with weird ways of achieving the same. One of the listed schools was
burnt because one of the teachers switched off the television when the students
were viewing what to them was an important football match final that went into an
extra-time. Pleas from the students did not deter the teacher and this led to a
strike that is going to cost the school more than just switching off the television
set. Yet in another case students caught sleeping past the recommended time
were made to sleep for hours in sun in front of their classes at the chagrin of
themselves and colleagues. If you though this was worse, then what about a
teacher unleashing punishment on a student because the student questioned his
or her knowledge on the topic of discussion?
5. “Expressing their right by emulating their
parents”
The new Kenyan constitution has
given right to every individual and grouping to picket and it is the belief of
political minds that the students are denied this right and are simply
expressing their frustrations in burning the school facilities. The
psychologists on the other hand opines that the students are emulating their
parents who in many occasions have taken to the streets to express their
dissatisfaction with various issues and burnt properties worth millions of
shillings. Therefore the students in burning the school dormitories, according
to psychologists, are only perfecting the good example provided by their
parents as having worked effectively. Next time you disagree with your child
better be carefully because they might set your bedroom on fire and by
extension the entire house to express their anger. This is to stress the
seriousness of the students’ issues and the psychological symbiosis of facts
that needs to be address to make the students at peace with their school
environment.
6. “Examination Fever”
Until recently, the torching of schools
was mainly done by the students over examination period due to what most
psychological counselors referred to a reflex reaction to the examination
period caused by the anxiety that comes with the results. In a system of
education where your entire life is decided in an examination that takes a few
hours can bring anxiety to unimaginable levels. These strikes led to the
scrapping of the popular pre-examination tests then commonly referred to as the
MOCK tests. And as the name suggests, these MOCK exams literary mocked the
students life prediction instead of mocking the main examination as it was
intended in the sense that most students had a belief that once you failed
“seriously” in the mock examinations that was the end of life. It meant your
dream of becoming a doctor, an engineer or a pilot was no more. How then are
you supposed to react? Seat pretty and wait…not at all. As a result the strikes
came and in large numbers during this period in time that was usually between
the months of August to November.
7. Mob Psychology
They say comrade power is power to
the masses and this same power is driven by mob psychology where individuals
find power in numbers. So the other school went on strike and they were heard,
a school and especially the immediate neighbors may decide to also follow suite
as it is a practical experience that has not only worked for a neighboring
school but also the older members of the community around the school.
8. Poor Parenting
Experience has taught the humanity
race that the ways a child is raised in their tender age determines how they
will live their future life in terms of principles that guide the daily life
operations. In fact this is captured in the book of Proverbs 22: 6 that says train up a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old, he will not depart from it. The problem with the Kenyan
society today and especially the middle class who believes every child has a
right and their existence is to provide for their needs, is that there is no
training at all that goes on that is morally geared towards living an
up-standing life. Instead, the children are taught how to disobey their elders,
how to get what they want when they want it, how to milk their parents and guardians
dry as they live expensive lifestyles that even the parents are not able to
contend with. In a nut-shell, the Kenyan children (read majority) are spoilt children as their parents are in most
instances absent. A child is therefore left at the virtue of a television set
where they watch how their very parents are defending their rights by
demonstrating on the streets and burning business. When they grow old they
surely do not depart away from the lessons learnt.
As the schools continue to burn and
more dormitories, laboratories, classes and even dining halls are razed down,
these reasons continue to rise. The stakeholders in the education industry and
ministry officials should address the burning of schools at the individual
school level as the issues leading to the strikes are unique and specific for
each and every school and there are no definite reasons as to why schools are
on strike. A STUDENT BURNING THEIR FUTURE ONLY HAVE THE SAME FUTURE TO PROVE THEM
WRONG IN THEIR ACTIONS
The writer is a PhD Generalist in
Service Delivery & Project Management and A lecturer at JKUAT, Kenya
