The
Education Minister, Mutula Kilonzo, while announcing the results of the
2012 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination results also
published a list of the top 25 child-friendly schools n Kenya. He should
release a list of the top 25 worst schools for children too.
2012 was surely a year of pain for scores of parents. Many young lives were snuffed out in the environments that we mistake for schools. Some of them were killed simply because, in the zeal to save shillings and boost profits, their schools were not designed for quick escapes in case of emergency. Others died because the schools' proprietors refused to invest in child-counsellors who should detect instances where children are under psychological strain and intervene to prevent acts of vandalism, including arson.
The Ministry has published guidelines for the health and safety of children in schools. These guidelines are routinely flouted or ignored. The result has been an escalating number of death and injuries while children are in the care of schools and their teachers. It is time, regardless of the set backs to the free child education rule in the Constitution, to shut down schools that place the lives of the children in their charge in danger.
Many parent have pooh-poohed the idea o sending their children to state-run schools and with good reason too. Because of the free primary education programme, many are overwhelmed; teacher:student ratios are frequently in the range of 1:60. The quality of education too has deteriorated, what with the labour disputes teachers in state-run schools have with the government and the fact that the amount of money dedicated to improving these schools has not kept pace with the ever escalating cost of living in Kenya. These parents have resorted to "private" schools to prepare their children for a life of harsh competition. While there are many fine private schools, especially the ones in the mould of international schools, in Kenya, many more are but mabati shacks in the depths of Kenya's mushrooming slums. While the likes of Braeside charge a king's ransom to educate the scions of Nairobi's high and mighty, hundreds of others charge a pittance and lack even the barest of necessities to even qualify for recognition by Mutula Kilonzo's ministry, and the ministry has done precious little to compel the proprietors of these schools and the parents that send their children there to improve matters. The cost in shattered and lost lives is escalating.
If Kenya is to make a mark in the world, it cannot rely only on the scions of the rich and powerful being comfortably educated while the millions of children of the hoi polloi make do with the dregs of the government's neglect. If Kenya is to participate in international rankings of education performance, it must do more to ensure that all its children are educated in roughly the same manner and enjoy the same access to facilities and teachers. It is heart-rending to witness the children of Kenya's huddled masses trudging through mud and filth to get to class only to be squeezed into a tin can that is poorly ventilated and is located a stone's throw from a garbage dump or a car-wash yard simply because the parents do not have viable alternatives. That Mr Kilonzo failed to even begin the process of reversing this sorry state of affairs should be an indictment against him and the President. Indeed, it is a reasonable ground for the good people of Makueni to reject his bid to represent them in the Senate.
2012 was surely a year of pain for scores of parents. Many young lives were snuffed out in the environments that we mistake for schools. Some of them were killed simply because, in the zeal to save shillings and boost profits, their schools were not designed for quick escapes in case of emergency. Others died because the schools' proprietors refused to invest in child-counsellors who should detect instances where children are under psychological strain and intervene to prevent acts of vandalism, including arson.
The Ministry has published guidelines for the health and safety of children in schools. These guidelines are routinely flouted or ignored. The result has been an escalating number of death and injuries while children are in the care of schools and their teachers. It is time, regardless of the set backs to the free child education rule in the Constitution, to shut down schools that place the lives of the children in their charge in danger.
Many parent have pooh-poohed the idea o sending their children to state-run schools and with good reason too. Because of the free primary education programme, many are overwhelmed; teacher:student ratios are frequently in the range of 1:60. The quality of education too has deteriorated, what with the labour disputes teachers in state-run schools have with the government and the fact that the amount of money dedicated to improving these schools has not kept pace with the ever escalating cost of living in Kenya. These parents have resorted to "private" schools to prepare their children for a life of harsh competition. While there are many fine private schools, especially the ones in the mould of international schools, in Kenya, many more are but mabati shacks in the depths of Kenya's mushrooming slums. While the likes of Braeside charge a king's ransom to educate the scions of Nairobi's high and mighty, hundreds of others charge a pittance and lack even the barest of necessities to even qualify for recognition by Mutula Kilonzo's ministry, and the ministry has done precious little to compel the proprietors of these schools and the parents that send their children there to improve matters. The cost in shattered and lost lives is escalating.
If Kenya is to make a mark in the world, it cannot rely only on the scions of the rich and powerful being comfortably educated while the millions of children of the hoi polloi make do with the dregs of the government's neglect. If Kenya is to participate in international rankings of education performance, it must do more to ensure that all its children are educated in roughly the same manner and enjoy the same access to facilities and teachers. It is heart-rending to witness the children of Kenya's huddled masses trudging through mud and filth to get to class only to be squeezed into a tin can that is poorly ventilated and is located a stone's throw from a garbage dump or a car-wash yard simply because the parents do not have viable alternatives. That Mr Kilonzo failed to even begin the process of reversing this sorry state of affairs should be an indictment against him and the President. Indeed, it is a reasonable ground for the good people of Makueni to reject his bid to represent them in the Senate.
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