Hillside tragedy revives debate on whether learners should board

Parents and members of the community gather outside the Nyeri county's Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri county on September 6, 2024 after a fire broke out killing 17 children. [AFP]

The Hillside Endarasha Academy dormitory fire that killed at least 21 pupils has reignited a debate on boarding schools question and the role of parents and institutions on learners' safety. 

The debate that parents and the government have shied away from is once again in the fore, with Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba weighing in. 

Speaking at Endarasha Hillside School on Thursday, Ogamba said it is time the country rethink the idea of abolishing boarding schools in the country.

“This is a national conversation we ought to have. When you have a problem like this, you look at it broadly. Let us have that discussion and find out what was the purpose of boarding schools. Do we still need them,” said Ogamba. 

His comments come years after his Basic Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang also raised issues with the viability of boarding schools.

“We must create a way in which we can be with our children and the only way is through dayschooling. The first nine years of learning that are Grades 1 to 9, the direction that the government is taking will be day schooling,” said Kipsang then.

In 2022, the PS had announced that the government would from January 2023 do away with boarding primary schools for pupils learning in grades 1 to 9.

“We cannot outsource our responsibility as we parents, we only co-parent with teachers but we cannot outsource parenting from the teachers,” Kipsang said then.

With open defiance of the set school safety standards by schools and weak parental involvement in their children’s boarding welfare, the debate is picking up. 

Ogamba however said the decision to abolish boarding schools and reviewing age limits for children in boarding institutions cannot be solely made by the ministry and noted that public participation is key.  

“It cannot be one person to come and say we do not need boarding schools. It is a bigger conversation. But we are going to look at the whole sector and see what and be done including the ages.

“At what age should we send our children to boarding schools? These are questions we need to ask ourselves not just as a ministry but as parents too,” said Ogamba said. 

The CS said parents also have a role in deciding if a child is developmentally ready to go to a boarding school as well as ensuring their children are in safe environment while in school.

“These are some of the little oversight things you can do because if you are not satisfied with one school and take them to a different school the sponsors of the school will be required to improve,” said the CS.

Opinion is however still split on the matter, but experts now say that the fire tragedy did not have anything to do with the age of the children or being in a boarding school.

According to Dr Emannuel Manyasa, an education expert and the director of Usawa Agenda, the fire incident was a blatant ignorance of the set safety guidelines or schools.

“A lot of our boarding schools are not adhering to the guidelines that were provided by the ministry to ensure the safety of learners. And because of that, the age is not really standing, and the tragedies are just bound to arise,” said Manyasa.

He argues that it is not going to be possible to do away with boarding schools, especially for young children in the Arid and Semi-Arid areas where schools are 50km apart and the terrain is unfavourable for commuting.

“There is nothing wrong with having primary boarding schools, whether private or public We have had boarding schools since the pre-independence and those that are run well are not causing deaths to children," he noted.

“Those who are in places where children can commute, let them commute. But those who, for some reason, must get their children to boarding school, let us make sure those children are safe when they are in those boarding schools,” said Manyasa.

According to Manyasa, the safety of children in boarding schools is mostly left in the hands of the school management and that schools are not open to scrutiny by parents. 

“You'd be surprised when you speak to any parent with a child in a boarding school in this country, they will tell you that even when they go to the school parents' days, they will be taken around the school compound. But they will never be allowed to see the dormitories or the kitchens,” he argued.

He said the tragic incident should be wake-up call to all stakeholders including parents to hold schools to account in terms of enforcing the guidelines for school safety.

Preliminary findings showed that some sections of the ill-fated dormitory were built of timber while others had been constructed using corrugated iron sheets insulated with cardboards inside.

Also, there are also assertions that the beds were made of wood.

Further, the expert in education matters argued that the ministry of education's failure to adequately capacitate the field officials to enforce the guidelines and safety standards has also led to the occurrence of such tragedies in schools.

“We have lost many children and many others are going to come from this with life-changing disabilities. Until now we don't know exactly what caused it but we can speculate that there were elements of non-adherence to the guidelines.

 That if we had adhered to those guidelines we would have been able to mitigate. So many people failed in their duties.

Kenyans are now calling for thorough investigations into the occurrence not just for punishing those responsible but also preventing any future calamities of that nature.

“What we want to see is that the investigation should actually be transparent. “We do not expect the investigations to turn out into a cover-up,” said Manyasa.

Former KNUT Secretary General Wilson Sossion said Kenya doesn't need boarding primary schools at the primary level up to Grade nine.

"Boarding at that level was unnecessary. It shouldn't have been allowed in the first place. Because parents are dumping children in boarding schools at an early age with an argument of them that they'll receive quality education," Sossion argued.

He added that, "It was just meant to use boarding schools as an avenue of getting their children get admitted to top premium national schools."

Sossion termed boarding as 'unnecessary costs that doesn't help children.'

According to him, boarding should only be in the Arid and Semi-arid regions and special schools.  

Sossion added that de-boarding education at least up to Grade nine would fully align the value-based education aspect in the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).

"If you map those children who are dumped in boarding as early as Grade four, they've not made much significant differences as emphasis."

"We ought to have a policy that brings to the table the child development at the very critical early stage, the role of the family on a daily basis," said Sossion.

In the light of the fire tragedy at Hillside Endarasha school, the former KNUT boss said the 100 per cent transition has caused a lot of congestion, even at post-primary institutions.

"We know children were sleeping in a congested dormitory, a dormitory made of timber and probably does not meet the minimum required standards of the Ministry of Education. These are scaring issues that put our children at risk in boarding," he added.

Sossion further noted to that over 70 per cent of students in secondary schools are day scholars noting that there is need to allow the family to play a central role in the growth of children at the critical early stages of life.

"Children in boarding are denied the basic right to meet their parents on a daily basis.Learning is wholesome. There must be a 50 per cent contribution from home and 50 per cent from school," he noted.

Psychologists weighing into the debate of whether or not to abolish boarding schools argue that is not the definite solution to such tragedies.

"If somebody is thinking about the child, they should first find out how safe that child physically, mentally, emotionally, in all ways is the child in this school,"  said Susan Gitau, a Human Development Psychologist and an educationist. 

She added that enrolling a child in a boarding school in their early formative stages, the parents would be losing in terms of bonding and their development.

"When you have a child below the age of 12 years, and you're taking them to a boarding school, when you should be having a bond with them will cost you a lot as a parent," she said.

According to her, such an incident may have life-changing effects on the psychosocial development of the children hence calling on parents to ensure their children are safe in all aspects before enrolling in boarding school.

"If a child is telling you, they are not safe and not okay, and as a parent, you take your child to that school and don't even inspect the facilities, you have no best interest of that child" said Gitau.

She explained that children do not have the negotiation skills for themselves, they are dependent on us adults,

The psychologist called for provision of psychosocial support to children who survived the tragedy and the parents.

" Some go in shock ad become numb. That is very serious destruction to the brain development" she explained. 

"I am hoping as much as we are doing all the investigations, that they can be able to follow these children and their families," said Gitau.