By John Mugendi
Medo Persian laws, imperiousness of teachers when handling students is mainly to blame for arson in secondary schools in Kenya.
Despite the fast-changing world, teachers in public schools have maintained the colonial concept that makes life in boys’ high schools similar to army training camps.
Students are not allowed to question anything and their opinion is not useful in the operations of the school which they are the main characters.
Students live under threat and intimidations of being either beaten or expelled from school if they don’t obey the ‘rulers’.
A teacher expels a student from attending lessons of his/her subject for a whole month for just finding the learner ‘making noise’! A student can be advised, warned, or given simple punishment that does not interfere with the studies.
Parents who fear victimizations of the children have to ignorantly adhere to the set Medo Persia laws that are never broken.
Every school has got a raft of its rigid bi-laws that are not recognized by the Ministry of Education and must be adhered to without question.
In many boarding high schools, all learners must wake up at 4 am for morning preps without negotiations or explanations why one may not make. Dozing in class attracts a punishment of reading while standing for the rest of the session.
In the last two weeks, five schools have been burnt in Tharaka Nithi County and 11 students suspected to have caused the fires arraigned in court according to county police commander Charles Mbatu.
On Thursday morning, fire gutted a 128-capacity dormitory at Tharaka Boys’ High School while learners were in the compulsory morning preps.
Tharaka South Sub County Police Commander Mr Kiprop Ruto told the Press that no one was injured during the incident but nothing was salvaged.
He said the fire was noticed by the watchman on duty at around 5:40 am while it had already engulfed the entire building.
“Nothing was salvaged from the dormitory,” said Mr Rutto.
He said though they suspect it could be a case of arson by students, it’s only investigations that will establish the truth.
Tharaka South Deputy County Commissioner Mr Simon Mutai urged the students and parents to remain calm as police conduct investigations to establish the cause of the fire.
He warned that government will not hesitate to take legal action against students involved in the destruction of school properties.
In February 2019, the same dormitory, named Ikunyua was gutted down and nothing was saved too.
