Banning mocks won’t stop chaos, let us change system

Often, secondary schools are hit by a wave of strikes that cause massive loss of property and disruption of learning.

The current round of strikes recorded in at least 26 counties is clearly replicating past trends.

Predictably, Education ministry officials and other interest groups get jolted to action when such scenarios play out. Unfortunately, the inclination is to be reactive rather than proactive.

So far, Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi has convened a meeting of education officials and other players in the education sector to diagnose the problem and give solutions.

MOCK EXAMS

The common causes were identified: Pressure because of mock exams that always come in July, high-handed administration, lack of student participation in school management, insufficient learning, teaching and accommodation facilities, among others.

A ban on mocks and holiday tuition was announced. And this is where our problems begin. Solutions to end the perennial student unrest are generally superficial and short-term.

Way back in 2001 and faced with an even worse scenario, the Education Minister Henry Kosgey set up a task force chaired by Education Director Naomy Wangai to investigate the cause of student unrest.

Then, 67 students were killed when their protesting colleagues set fire to their dormitory.

As has been the tradition, little was done to implement the recommendations of the team and the same crisis is back with us.

Nevertheless, an analysis of most of the recommendations put forward over the years to curb student unrest reveal lack of precision in diagnosis and sharpness in solutions.

STUDENT STRIFE

For example, while it is clear that poor management is a major contributor to student strife, little has been done to deal comprehensively with that.

In his book, School Mastery, the late Dr Geoffrey Griffin, the founding and long-term director of Starehe Boys, unequivocally demonstrated that poor management was the main cause of indiscipline and subsequently, violence, in schools.

Not surprisingly, he popularised a discipline model that was student-centred, which placed a premium on the individual rather than the institution.

He argued forcefully that the best way to instill discipline is to let the student see sense in what he or she is being told rather than force him or her through the cane or brute terror. In a nutshell, the problem is not banning mocks or tuition, it is reforming the education system and its sub-structures.