Schools need insurance to secure learning environment
A burnt dormitory at Cheplaskei Boys High School in Uasin Gishu in June 2017. PHOTO | DENNIS LUBANGA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
If we are to attain the high quality of human capital required to achieve sustainable development in the country, we must create a safe and conducive environment in our learning institutions.
All said and done, we must always heed the old saying that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.
This is the wisdom upon which insurance is premised.
Human capital has been identified as a critical driver of sustainable development. Education influences the quality of human capital in any nation. We must, therefore, seek ways to improve learning in our schools. Since the inception of free primary education in 2003, enrolment has shot up. Ten million plus pupils are enrolled in primary schools. Another 2.3 million are in secondary school, and last year, more than 400,000 students were in the universities.
MASSIVE INVESTMENT
Driving this phenomenal growth is massive investment in education and learning infrastructure by the government and the private sector. For instance, Sh124 billion was allocated to the education sector in this year’s Budget. There has also been significant growth in investment by private sector in education in recent years. This rapid growth obviously comes with its own challenges. Our learning institutions have to cope with a surge in the student population. Concurrently, schools have to grapple with certain risks that can severely disrupt learning. Learning institutions are hubs of human activity. Besides imparting knowledge, they engage in extra-curricular activities that bear inherent risks. These include inter-school sports, drama and music competitions and educational tours. Schools also manage learning facilities and other assets like motor vehicles, office equipment, buildings and farms. Because of their public nature, learning institutions expose learners and staff to a myriad risks, ranging from personal injury and damage to property to even lawsuits. They must mitigate these risks in order to secure the learning environment.
FINANCIAL COSTS
Such risks come with potentially devastating financial costs. Think of a fire that razes all dormitories in a school. The school has to shut down. Or God forbid, a school bus being involved in an accident, killing students. If the institutions are uninsured, the consequences can be devastating.
Risk management is defined as deliberate steps taken to identify and control exposure to loss or injury arising from the activities of an organisation.
Schools need insurance as a risk management tool. In other words, insurance should not just be an expense item in the financial budget. Rather, it is an indispensable tool for mitigating potential threats to a learning institution. Moreover, prudence demands that after investing millions of shillings in a school, appropriate measures be taken to safeguard it from a potential financial catastrophe. This would spare parents and the government the financial burden of footing the heavy bills that come with tragedies affecting schools.
Fortunately, the school insurance policies currently in the market cover a wide array of risks, including fire, burglary, personal accident or injury, riots, strikes, and lawsuits, to name but a few.
There is crop and livestock insurance to protect their farm assets. With rising cases of student unrest, there has never been a greater need for learning institutions to reassess their risk profile. With the looming threat of terrorism and political violence, insurance is paramount.
We are living in an increasingly litigious society, where owners of institutions are exposed to lawsuits by students, parents and staff, and ranging from wrongful termination, negligence, and discrimination, sexual harassment to abuse. Special school insurance packages cover such risks.
A good insurance policy not only protects a school’s assets but also serves as an effective risk management tool to secure and enhance the learning environment. If we are to attain the high quality of human capital required to achieve sustainable development in the country, we must create a safe and conducive environment in our learning institutions.
All said and done, we must always heed the old saying that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. This is the wisdom upon which insurance is premised.
Muema Muindi is the chief executive officer of Kenya Orient Insurance.
