Student Unrest: Stop the Roadside Decrees, Deal With the Key Issues!

Students in Kisii County took matters into their own hands and burnt down their school after they were reportedly, denied a chance to watch the ongoing Euro-cup football games. The decision to “punish” the administration by razing the school despite the ramifications is a sign of a society where impunity reigns.

To begin with the violence that met the decision is perhaps what we have now come to know as responding to a mosquito bite with a hammer. You end up doing more harm than the remedy intended. Never mind that to respond to a mosquito with a hammer is not just foolish (especially for people called students), it reflects a person incapable of maintaining a level head during crisis. The important question therefore is why are our students so angry? Is it rational to burn down a school over a football match?

Recently, two senior Nairobi politicians, instead of raising their arguments with each other decided to raise their voices at each other and eventually raising their fists at each other.  This is often the case between the opposition and the government (read: anti-IEBC protests). No wonder students think violence is the solution to any disagreement.

Indeed Kenya’s First Lady Margaret Kenyatta said as much when she warned MPs about behaving badly and being bad role-models for children earlier this year. At the same function she said when children visit Parliament during learning tours, “They always come back home bewildered, confused at what they find and see.”

This perhaps should help the Cabinet Secretary Education realize the issue is not about poor parenting only.  He should therefore punish parents for it. The CS earlier this week directed that parent’s pay for the damages caused and advised all schools not to admit expelled students without seeking the advice of the county education officers. These reactionary solutions do not solve the problem.

Indeed Nyamira Senator disagreed with the Education CS terming the directive “pedestrian” and added that it had no bearing on any previous reports. Which begs the question, what became of the report tabled by the Parliamentary Departmental Committee on Education, Research and Technology about their inquiry into Students' Unrest and Strikes in Secondary Schools, in 2008?

The report revealed that over 260 schools had gone on strike by the beginning of September 2008 and that 50 per cent of those strikes were destructive. And after an investigative period including a public hearing across the county the team confirmed that the strikes and destruction of property were mere symptoms to the main issues which the report documents as:

“Poor management of schools, overloaded curriculum, low morale amongst teachers, peer pressure, drug and substance abuse, indiscipline and rampant expulsion of students, impact of post-election violence and moral decay in society.”

Rather than making blanket statements the CS can re-read the report again and come up with tangible solutions. For starters, we must all agree that student unrest and indiscipline cases will not go away today. The most prudent thing to do therefore is to insure schools against strikes resulting from student unrests.

Secondly, we must also agree that children born after 2000 otherwise known as generation Z are a complicated lot. Especially in Kenya; consider the fact that the oldest generation Z was only eight years old when Post-Election Violence (PEV) happened. It is easy to assume the best but the psychological damage PEV inflicted on this generation is unbelievable.

The same report by the education committee confirms this assertion as impact of PEV was also listed as a factor. For that reason, the CS should lead a campaign to ensure all public secondary schools have properly funded counseling centers with qualified and registered staff to help these students unburden themselves and focus on studies.

The recent signing of the collective bargain agreement between the government and teachers is a good starting point as it deals with the low morale teachers have been having. Indeed the report indicated this as a factor too. Matiangi should deal with the disease by implementing the recommendations of the report by the Education committee on the unrest of students in secondary schools.

Posted by Mzalendo Editor on July 2, 2016

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