Ministry to launch measures addressing school unrests
Former President Daniel arap Moi is received by Education CS Fred Matiang'i during the opening of the 6th annual international research conference at Kabarak University, Nakuru, on July 13, 2016. Dr Matiang'i said a police report indicates that more than 122 schools have gone on strike in the past 18 months. PHOTO | SULEIMAN MBATIAH | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- He downplayed the current wave of chaos in schools across the country saying that the scale of the current problem this year is much lower than it has been before.
- Dr Matiang'i added that the government will look at governance of some of the institutions and also build of capacities of school heads.
The government is set to announce radical measures to stem the wave of students unrest that has hit the country this year.
Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i on Thursday said he and his Interior counterpart, Joseph Nkaissery, will make public the measures before the end of the week.
“I will make an announcement with Interior CS on some of the actions we need to take to see how we can move forward,” he said during the official opening of a two-day symposium on managing university research and publications held at the Kenya School of Government.
He, however, downplayed the current wave of chaos in schools across the country saying that the scale of the current problem this year is much lower than it has been before.
“By July last year we had 317 cases of arson in Kenya and the new regulations had had not been introduced,” said Dr Matiang’i.
A police report indicates that more than 122 schools have gone on strike in the past 18 months leading to massive destruction of properties, with this year recording more than 60 cases.
He said the teams tasked with probing the factors instigating the unrests indicated that poor governance in schools was the cause.
“The unrests and challenges that we have in schools in the country have certain causes. We have had two task forces that have looked into these issues and that is how mock was banned as well as repeating of classes,” said Dr Matiang’i.
He added that the government will look at governance of some of the institutions and also reinforce capacities of school heads.
The Cabinet Secretary added that his Ministry will up its game through strengthening supervision by its quality assurance officers and better coordination with the ministry of Interior.
Dr Matiang’i observed that a greater number of the institutions are boys schools and have had disruptions previously.
“Over 90 per cent of schools on strike are boys schools while 45 per cent of cases are repeat cases where schools had unrests last year,” he indicated.
Editing by Philip Momanyi
