Relatives and students at Moi Girls School, Nairobi, in shock after
eight girls died and many others were injured in a dormitory fire on
September 2, 2017. PHOTO | ANTHONY OMUYA| NATION MEDIA GROUP
The death of eight students at Moi Girls School Nairobi on
Saturday has once again put into sharp focus the safety of students in
boarding schools.
The incident comes four months after a
government led taskforce recommended drastic measures to ensure the
safety of students in schools but whose implementation still remains
unclear.
The report on unrest
in learning institutions last year that was released in May pointed out
that dormitories in most schools had no emergency exits or had blocked
emergency.
It also observed only a few schools had fire-fighting equipment.
“Some
had empty fire extinguishers cans while others were placed in
inappropriate places where they were of no use during fire emergency. In
most schools visited, there were no fire assembly points,” said the
report that was compiled by a special investigation team which was led
by former provincial administrator Claire Omollo.
Ms
Omollo and her team had recommended that the ministry of Education
establish a monitoring and evaluation section to enforce compliance with
policies and ensure accountability by school management within six
months.
SAFETY POLICY
The report pointed out that most schools did not have the necessary safety policy.
“The
inadequate preparation for fire disasters had led to inability to
salvage student’s school property leading to loses even in cases where
such loses could have been prevented.
“The
evidence of unpreparedness could have been a reason for students’ use
of arson to express their grievances and to force the administration to
allow them to go home. This situation was found to be risky to the lives
of students in the event of fire outbreak,” noted the report.
It also raised concerns over narrow doors that compromised the safety of students.
“Most
of the schools visited had overcrowded and congested dormitories with
some students sleeping on triple decker beds in order to accommodate
larger numbers and in some cases students were forced to share beds,”
said the report.
It was also
reported that some dormitories were sometimes locked from outside when
students were a sleep to deter them from sneaking out of the school
compounds at night.
“In other
cases, the keys of the dormitories were kept by students or watchmen
contrary to the safety regulations which stipulated that keys be in the
custody dormitory masters or mistresses or dormitory prefects,” added
the report.
According to the
safety standards manual details, dormitories should have double doors,
opening outwards and windows must be without grills.
WELL VENTILATED
Dormitories
must also be clean and well ventilated and spaces between beds must be
wide enough to allow for manoeuvre and space during emergency.
The
team recommended that all boarding schools should be re-inspected to
ensure basic standards for boarding are met and those that do not meet
the basic standards should be registered or converted to day schools.
“Schools
should adopt appropriate security measures including perimeter fencing
and 24-hour manning, CCTV surveillance, fire extinguisher, sniffer dog
checks, metal detectors, random dog security patrols, adequate security
lighting, engage vetted security guards and create awareness on security
matters,” recommended the report.
It
also recommended fire drills for students and staff at least twice a
year, an issue that was to be implemented within six months after the
presentation of the report to Education cabinet Secretary.
Schools
were also advised to have functional, well maintained and strategically
placed fire-fighting equipment’s. Within a year, schools were also
advised to adopt appropriate security measures including; perimeter
fencing and 24-hour manning, CCTV surveillance, fire extinguisher,
sniffer dog checks, metal detectors, random dog security patrols,
adequate security lighting, engaging vetted security guards and creating
awareness on security matters.
It also recommended the implementation of the recommendations parts of Wangai and Koech task forces report with were partially
SECURITY GUARDS
Schools
were also advised to employ adequate vetted security guards with
security skills and who are not beyond the mandatory retirement age.
The
report also pointed at the presence of terrorists and criminal gangs in
schools with teachers sharing extremist literature with students with
the aim of radicalising them.
It is not the first time lives have been lost in schools.
In
1991, 19 girls at St Kizito Mixed secondary school died from rape by
boys and suffocation while in 1998, 26 girls died at Bombolulu girls
Secondary school in a dormitory fire.
In
1999, four prefects at Nyeri High school died when they were locked in
their cubicle by other students and set on fire while at Kyanguli
secondary school in 2001, 68 boys died in a dormitory fire.
In
2008, one student died at Upper Hill secondary school died in a
dormitory fire while in 2015 two students at Steph Joy a private school
in Kiambu County died and 10 others were injured in a dormitory fire.
UNREST
Last
year, there were a total of 483 incidents of unrest which included 239
cases of fire and 244 other forms of unrest with 429 cases being
reported in second term with 1,075 suspects being arrested of which
1,029 were students while 46 were non-students.
On
Saturday, Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Secretary-General
Wilson Sossion demanded a thorough investigation into the Saturday’s
fire at Moi Girls secondary School in Nairobi.
“We
are demanding Kenyans be told the truth. The police should do so with
the urgency that it deserves,” said Mr Sossion adding the death of the
students was painful and should not recur in any other learning
institution.
Education expert Andiwo Obondo raised concerns about the response and preparedness of learning institutions to handle disasters.
“We
must change the way we respond to disasters to avert more deaths. Hard
questions must be asked on how the students died in the school and where
the management was,” said Mr Obondo.
The
Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Chief executive officer Nancy
Macharia said she had learnt with sorrow the death the students.
“I
take this opportunity to condole with parents and relatives of the
girls the Board of Management (BOM), teachers and the entire school
community following the tragic incident,” said Mrs Macharia and wished
students who sustained injuries quick recovery.
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