Central tops list of riot-hit areas

• Learning still paralysed in 163 schools
• Rift Valley Province has the second highest number of cases, having recorded 55.
• Following closely is Eastern Province with 53. Others are Nyanza with 27, Coast 24, Nairobi 19 and Western 8.

Central Province has topped the list of areas hit hard by student unrest, with 68 out of the 254 cases reported to the Ministry of Education by Thursday being from the region.

In a press statement, Education permanent secretary Karega Mutahi on Friday said only North Eastern Province had not suffered any case of student unrest.

Rift Valley Province has the second highest number of cases, having recorded 55.

Following closely is Eastern Province with 53. Others are Nyanza with 27, Coast 24, Nairobi 19 and Western 8.

Speaking during an interview with NTV on Thursday, Education minister Sam Ongeri said the Government was considering scrapping district mock examinations to address the perennial problem of strikes in schools.

Mock examinations

“We are thinking of doing away with district mock examinations as they have outlived their usefulness. They have been hijacked for commercial purposes,” he said.

Fear of the mock examinations has been cited by the Government as one of the main causes of strikes.

“The way the mocks are being administered makes some students afraid. They are done as a benchmark for schools in a particular locality but they are not serving the purpose. Some schools are behind in syllabus coverage and students in those institutions feel intimidated,” said the minister.

He said the school-based end-of-term examinations were sufficient to gauge students’ preparedness for the national examinations.

A report by a taskforce formed in 2001 to look into causes of the strikes had recommended the scrapping of the mocks but the proposal was not implemented.

In his statement, the PS said learning was still paralysed in 163 schools but hoped that it would resume soon.

“Many of the remaining 163 schools are resuming their operations in accordance with the schedules set out by their respective Boards of Governors,” said the PS.

He said at schools that experienced violent strikes, students would be screened by the boards before the opening dates are set.

The PS said the crackdown on students involved in the strikes was being carried out by security personnel and more suspects would be arraigned in court soon.