A few weeks ago, a dormitory at a school in western Kenya caught fire, and seven pupils were detained on suspicion of setting it on fire.
The frequency of boarding school fire assaults by students increased significantly last year, which the pupils blamed on a more rigorous curriculum as a result of time wasted due to the Covid shutdown. A total of three per week occurred in the second quarter of the year.
A potential crisis for education system?
The renowned media house BBC interviewed quite a few students about their experiences and first-hand description of the arson incident.
‘One of the interviews given by the students, as reported by the news channel, read about the day the incident occurred and how like the other days the students at first were unbothered. The student mentioned that at first, she didn’t pay heed to the blazing fire outside as she thought it was the matron burning garbage.
With the increase of voices and screams in the compound, the student said she noticed the smoke pushing out of her dormitory and soon she understood the gravity of the incident. She also noticed that the students were running around trying to save their lives.
The student, concerned about her friend who was near the fire area, started panicking as the other students started breaking out of the school windows to save their own lives. The young students gave a first-hand perspective of the unfortunate event but the discussion and the questions regarding this being a conspiracy by the student body still stand uncovered.
The little girl did not confirm anything or any direct information about student involvement but gave many reasons which could point toward this conclusion. The Ministry of Education stated that there were 126 arson incidents between January and November of last year in a reply to a parliamentary inquiry that had asked for further information about the school fire disaster in November 2021.
It was discovered that 302 college kids had been detained in connection with these occurrences and that 41 of them had stood in court facing charges of arson and property destruction.
In a statement released in November, the Ministry of Education highlighted several factors it thought contributed to the arson epidemic, including overcrowding, poor teacher-student relationships, drug usage, and a lack of counseling services in schools.
However, it hinted that other factors were also at play, noting that parents had been “overprotective” of their children when they were accused of misbehavior and that the law had made it more difficult for teachers to discipline students. Its recommendations included hiring qualified school counselors, but it also directed a “critical” analysis of the role of boarding schools in Kenya’s educational system.
Accident or Conspiracy?
Contrary to the rising concern, Kenya did not witness school arson for the first time. For years now, Kenya has seen a spike in arson cases and protests in the form of arson.
The arson case which happened 20 years ago posed a great threat to the education system making this case an infamous one, with every case and the sudden attention towards the people asking questions to the system for the potential reasons or shortcomings pushing alleged students to this extent, this kind of protests increase. Although the recent fire doesn’t have any evidence against any student involvement.
As per the interview by BBC and as per the records and research of the previous incidents in Kenya, the education system shortcomings and the growing pressure on the students and the financial pressure on the families to be at par with the demands of the school system and reserve a seat for the students in the status quo has always been a pointing finger on the system and a nodding head towards the “coincidental fire” incidents all over the country.
the extremely long hours of school(17+ hours) and the strained and stiff teacher-student relationships, can be a reason for the contempt among the students. Previously an arson incident that killed 10, found an 18-year-old guilty as reported by the Kenyan ministry of education.
In recent years it has also been confirmed that the funding for the arson recovery of the school infrastructure is also being collected from the student families many of who are incapable of affording such a huge amount.
This has been a matter of student concern lately and is blowing the contempt even more. While the school authorities and the ministry of education keep quiet most of the time there have been many proofs of student bodies planning these protests and coercing more participation from students.
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