Report: Most boarding schools are not safe for children

A congested dormitory. Sub-county schools are the most constrained. [Beverlyne Musili, Standard] The majority of boarding schools in the country are not safe for children, a new report says. The report by Usawa Agenda unearthed poor disaster preparedness in schools, with spacing between students' beds in dormitories below the stipulated guidelines. The report reveals that less than half of surveyed boarding schools across the country have adhered to the safety guidelines. From faulty structures to deadly stampedes, schools are becoming the latest death traps in Kenya, the report says. The details emerged on Wednesday during the launch of the secondary school survey report by Usawa Agenda. Questioned, however, emerged over the implementation of the 2008 Safety Standards Manual for schools. Mixed sub-county schools have the least compliance with only 21.3 per cent of the institutions conforming to the safety guidelines on spacing in the dormitories. Sub-county schools are the most constrained with only 24.6 per cent adhering to the safety guidelines on spacing students' beds in dormitories. Across all categories of schools, except for the private schools, girls' schools are less compliant compared to boys' schools. Among the special schools, mixed schools have not adhered to the safety guidelines with only 39.7 per cent compliant. While only 55 per cent of schools surveyed have a visible label on fire and emergency assembly points. Management of the majority of schools are not even aware of the prescribed safety standards, putting into question enforcement mechanisms to save lives. The report says that while 67 per cent of the schools found the budget allocation on safety and security inadequate, some 28 per cent had no allocation at all, while only three per cent found the allocation enough. Similarly, 97 per cent of secondary schools said the money allocated is inadequate to cater for the increased student population due to the 100 per cent transition policy. Usawa Agenda Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel Manyasa attributed the challenges facing schools to misplaced priority and poor planning. "We have failed to give attention to priorities. Some of the schools that are struggling with congestion also have school buses, so where is the priority? Why do you have to buy a school bus that you would use occasionally and not have a dormitory where children sleep every day?" He posed. Dr Manyasa said that government officials who are supposed to ensure quality and standards in schools have failed. "This country doesn't take safety as an important aspect, that is why they even play with lives on the roads. But for learners, they should go to bed confidently that they wake up tomorrow safe, such that even if there is an accident they can escape," he said. He insisted that the guidelines were meant to keep the children safe in schools at all times. "This guideline is however difficult to achieve in the current circumstances when we moved to 100 per cent transition without prior planning for it," he said. Manyansa blamed the situation on misallocation of resources, which has led to congestion of children in fewer schools. "We have students in a few schools while we have some schools with massive capacity without enough learners. They are congested to the extent of being risky to learners," he said. He said the survey exposed the skewed distribution of resources in the education sector in favour of the big schools. "...and this is to the disadvantage of sub-county schools which are educating the majority of students in the country. They are under-resourced, understaffed and have fewer teachers than they did," he said. National Parents Association Chairman Silas Obuhatsa raised concerns over learners' security in schools. Obuhatsa said some of the schools are not even habitable. "There is a need for adequate resourcing for the Quality Assurance and Standards department to address issues of safety in schools as well as increasing the budget allocation on maintenance and improvement to address issues of safety in schools," he said. Loreto Kiambu Girls Chief Principal Lucy Njeri faulted the government for failure to increase school funding. "The report is a reflection of how things are on the ground. The report is calling on schools where there are no facilities, we need to get funds on a needs basis. Funds given for infrastructure in schools is not sufficient for the upcoming schools," she said.

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