Pressure Mounts on Government Over Lax Enforcement of School Safety Rules.
Despite the formation of numerous task forces and the production of numerous reports on school safety, field officers have consistently failed to enforce compliance over the years.
Furthermore, despite the publication and distribution of numerous instructions to schools, catastrophes continue to claim lives, underscoring the government’s passivity.
For a building to be registered, it must be permanent and made of concrete and stone.
According to sources, mattresses and wooden walls fueled the fire that claimed several lives.
One of the primary concerns is that despite numerous studies over the years highlighting the hazardous conditions in Kenyan schools, not much has changed.
Examining schools
The National Parents Association chastised government officials on Friday for failing to fulfill their duties. National Chairman Silas Obuhatsa has brought the issue of officers failing to do their jobs to the attention of the Ministry of Education.
“To restore safety for our children, we implore the government to reinstate the inspectorate department for schools while we grieve. The lives of our children must come first, Obuhatsa declared. “In order to restore some sanity to our boarding schools, school inspections must begin again.”
Obuhatsa also emphasized how important it is for schools to follow the safety guidelines provided in Kenya’s Safety Standards Manual for Schools.
This paper provides guidelines for the protection of students and the entire school community. He clarified that in order to ensure that students can escape during a fire outbreak, the government decree forbids window grills and mandates that students not be kept in their dorms.
He also pleaded with the government to uphold the rule for personnel to take care of students in dorms.
Enforcement procedures
There are still deaths in boarding schools as a result of the quality assurance officers’ failure to implement recommendations and procedures, despite multiple reports produced by independent and government authorities. This is true even though the ministry has issued numerous circulars instructing field officials to follow these rules.
The 2019 report Status of Education in Kenya: An Audit of Infrastructure and Financing from a Safety Standards Perspective identified poor disaster preparedness in schools. Following the deaths of eight students at Precious Talents Academy in Dagoretti, Nairobi, as a result of a classroom collapse, the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) conducted a survey that included 213 schools across 21 counties.
72 percent of these schools were secondary, 22 percent were primary, 6 percent were special schools, and 1 percent were tertiary, according to the research. The research revealed that many school administrators were unaware of the required safety standards, leading to concerns about the enforcement methods. Additionally, it was discovered that only half of the tested schools had offered safety inductions, and that many teachers and students were ignorant of the safety measures in place.
The school safety handbook
The school safety handbook, which requires school boards and administration to set up systems and processes to ensure that all parties involved are aware of disaster preventive strategies and actions to lessen their effects, is under strict enforcement, according to players in the education sector.
The report pointed out that many schools still disobey safety regulations and accused school administration of ignoring safety precautions. Another analysis conducted this year by Usawa Agenda revealed that most boarding schools have bed spacing between students that is less than the legally required, posing a significant risk to children.
The report referred to schools as the newest death traps in Kenya and found that less than half of the boarding schools evaluated followed safety regulations, noting problems ranging from dangerous stampedes to defective constructions.
According to the 2008 School Safety Standards Manual, schools must have outward doorways that are at least five feet wide, a corridor width of two meters, and a minimum of 1.2 meters between beds. While students are inside, dormitory doors must remain unlocked from outside. Every dorm should have two doors, as well as a second emergency exit labeled “Emergency Exit.” Fire extinguishing equipment must be functional, strategically located, and without grills, with easy-to-reach fire alarms.
Claire Omollo Commission
The handbook also mandates that teachers and administrators must conduct routine spot checks before students go to bed and prohibit visitors from entering the dormitory. Schools must have operational, well-maintained firefighting apparatus and display evacuation maps at all entrances and exits. The Ministry of Public Works, school boards, and the Ministry of Education should supervise fire drills, which should take place at least twice a year.
In 2017, the Claire Omollo task force issued 68 recommendations to combat arson in schools, with the majority scheduled for implementation within six to twelve months. However, many of these suggestions remain unimplemented. The task team recommended actions like proper security illumination, sniffer dog inspections, metal detector checks, and round-the-clock CCTV surveillance. Additionally, it suggested having well-screened security guards, safe perimeter fencing, and County Security and Intelligence Committee involvement on County Education Boards.
The group suggested that the County Education Boards include a representative from the County Security and Intelligence Committee.
In summary, the report suggested the formation of a multidisciplinary team to supervise and track the application of the report’s recommendations.
The tragic events of the St. Kizito Secondary School massacre in 1991, the Kyanguli Secondary School fire in 2001, and other school fires and tragedies have exposed serious safety problems. These concerns include overcrowding, insufficient fire safety measures, and unrest within the student body. These fatalities underscore the urgent need for stronger safety laws and improved preventative measures to halt such incidents.
Pressure Mounts on Government Over Lax Enforcement of School Safety Rules.
