Majority of Boarding Schools Now Death Traps for Children — Report

Majority of Boarding Schools Now Death Traps for Children — Report

A recent analysis claims that the majority of the country’s boarding schools are unsafe for children. 

According to the Usawa Agenda report, schools have insufficient disaster preparedness, with the distance between students’ beds in dormitories falling below the required limits. 

According to the data, less than half of the assessed boarding schools across the country followed safety rules. 

According to the report, schools in Kenya are evolving into the latest death traps, from poor construction to catastrophic stampedes. 

The details were revealed on Wednesday at the introduction of the Usawa Agenda’s secondary school survey report. 

The introduction of the 2008 Safety Standards Manual for Schools, however, has raised concerns. Mixed sub-county schools had the lowest compliance rate, with only 21.3% of institutions following safety criteria for dormitory spacing. 

Join Teachers Updates on Facebook

Sub-county schools are the most limited, with only 24.6% meeting the safety criteria for spacing students’ beds in dormitories. 

Girls’ schools are less compliant than boys’ schools in all categories, except private schools. 

Mixed schools, unlike special schools, did not follow safety rules, with only 39.7 percent complying. 

Only 55% of schools examined have prominent labels on fire and emergency assembly locations. 

The majority of school administrations are unaware of the required safety requirements, casting doubt on enforcement procedures designed to save lives. 

According to the report, 67% of schools deemed the budget allocation for safety and security inadequate, 28% had no allocation at all, and only 3% found the allocation adequate. 

Similarly, 97% of secondary schools reported insufficient funding to meet the increased student population as a result of the 100% transition program. 

Emmanuel Manyasa, Chief Executive Officer of Usawa Agenda, blamed the issues faced by schools on incorrect priorities and poor planning.

He highlighted the lack of focus on priorities. He questioned the rationale behind allocating resources, noting that some schools facing congestion issues also possessed school buses. 

This raised the question of priority: why invest in a school bus, which might only be occasionally used, instead of addressing the pressing need for dormitories where children reside daily?

According to Dr. Manyasa, government personnel responsible for ensuring the quality and standards of schools have failed. 

He observed that the country’s indifference to safety is evident, particularly on the roads, where lives appear to be at risk. A spokesperson emphasized the importance of ensuring learners’ safety, emphasizing the necessity for them to feel secure even in the event of accidents.

The guidelines aimed at ensuring children’s safety in schools are challenging to implement given the abrupt transition to full capacity without adequate planning beforehand. 

This situation, according to Manyansa, results from the misallocation of resources, leading to overcrowding in some schools while others remain underutilized.

The skewed distribution of resources favors larger schools, disadvantaging smaller sub-county schools that cater to the majority of students. This lack of adequate resources leaves sub-county schools under-resourced, understaffed, and with fewer teachers compared to previous years.

Silas Obuhatsa, Chairman of the National Parents Association, expressed concerns about the security of learners in schools, noting that some schools lack basic amenities and are barely habitable. 

In Our Other News: End of National Schools Categorization: New Categorization

He stressed the need for increased funding for the Quality Assurance and Standards department to address safety issues and advocated for a higher budget allocation for maintenance and improvements.

Lucy Njeri, Chief Principal of Loreto Kiambu Girls, criticized the government’s failure to augment school funding, stating that the report accurately reflects the dire conditions in many schools. 

She emphasized the inadequacy of current infrastructure funds for expanding schools and called for the allocation of funds based on the unique needs of each school.

Majority of Boarding Schools Now Death Traps for Children — Report

Follow Teachers Updates on Facebook, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), WhatsApp, Telegram, and Instagram. Get in touch with our editors at [email protected].