Kaimenyi calls urgent meeting to address unrest in schools

Education Ministry has called for urgent meeting with stakeholders to address increasing cases of unrest in schools in the last two months.

Prof Jacob Kaimenyi, the Education Cabinet Secretary, is expected to preside over the meeting to be held at Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) on Thursday.

The stakeholders are expected to discuss the status of the current unrest in schools and the recommendations of previous reports on the issue.

They will be invited to make comments on the issue and make recommendations on how to definitively deal with the problem.

Many schools across the country have witnessed several students’ unrest and setting on fire of several dormitories in schools.

Experts believe that all the unrest is due to pressure on students to perform well in schools’ and regional mock examinations.

Last year, Prof Kaimenyi abolished ranking of schools in national examinations as a way of easing pressure on learners.

Several taskforces on school unrests that included Task Force on Student Discipline and Unrest in Schools 2001, chaired by Mrs Naomy Wangai; the report on The Enquiry into Student Unrests and Strikes in Secondary Schools, chaired by then chairman Mr David Koech, a standing committee of Parliament both recommended abolition of ranking of schools.

Last year, Dr Kilemi Mwiria taskforce also recommended the abolition of ranking in schools and students noting that it was not serving any rational educational goals and objectives.