Stakeholders differ on the causes of school unrest in Nyanza as more students riot

Kisumu Girls was closed on 2nd July, 2018. So far six schools in the Nyanza region have been closed indefinitely following students riots. [Photo: Courtesy]

Panic has gripped secondary schools in Nyanza as questions linger over who is behind the spate of student unrest that has so far led to the closure of six schools.

Education officials and parents have been left scratching their heads over why riots have intensified over the past week in schools in the region.

Kisumu Girls and Ambira Boys, Maranda Boys, Maliera Boys and Ngiya Girls in Siaya County have been closed over student unrest.

Celebrations that marked the announcement of the closure of Maranda Boys High School by the Ministry of Education officials left experts worried.

What started as protests against claims of high-handedness by the management at Kisumu Girls High School has spread to nine institutions.

The Ministry of Education's quality assurance branch, Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government, teachers and parents unions officials in the region are baffled by the unpredictable trend.

Clump them together

Secondary school head teachers want investigations conducted in the affected schools and the report made public. Kenya Secondary School Heads Association Nyanza chairman, Stephen Were terms as mere speculation “any reports purporting to explain what is happening in the schools.”

“Each of the schools has a unique cause for the unrests, we cannot clump them together and pretend to file a report,” said Mr Were.

Regional Education coordinator Richard Chepkawai dismissed claims that delocalisation of principals was to blame.

He also ruled out examination fever, saying scrapping of the mocks and inter-school competitions had eased that off. “And even if they want to say it’s the KCSE, that is still months away,” he said.

Were said the unrest could be triggered by incitement and linked to possibility of students carrying phones to school.

Chepawai blamed the unrest to an education symposium bringing together 20 schools in Nyanza about a month ago. Three of the affected schools were at the symposium.

According to Zablon Awange of the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teaches in Kisumu, abolition of corporal punishment, should have been followed by strengthened guidance and counselling with establishment of fully funded department headed by substantively appointed head