School Management Committees for both Primary and Secondary Schools in Bungoma County have been urged to corporate with their respective school heads in the running of the learning institutions to avert unnecessary leadership wrangles. 

The acting Bungoma County Secretary General of Kenya National Union of Teachers KNUT Kenneth Nganga said some heads of schools have died from stress related diseases as a result of pressure from members of school management committees. 

“Our teachers are dying because of stress, three weeks ago Principal of Lwanda Secondary School in Bungoma South collapsed and died on the spot because of pressure from school committee members,” Nganga alleged. 

Mr. Nganga said in an event of misunderstanding or mismanagement of public funds there are better ways of reaching an amicable decision without rushing to write reports meant to blackmail teachers. 

“Teachers are human beings and they can make mistakes, as parents and school committees you should handle them with respect and decency that they deserve, as a union we believe such reports amount to hate speech,” he urged.   

The Bungoma County KNUT secretary general said parents, school committees and all stakeholders have a noble obligation to work hand in hand with heads of school to improve the education standards in their respective schools. 

“As stakeholders you should not seat on the periphery and only come in to blame teachers when things go wrong, and some school committee members behave as if they are school inspectors, this is wrong and must come to an end because frequent wrangles will affect the education standards of our institutions,” he said. 

Nganga said school committees should always allow heads of schools to attend education workshops and seminars in order to gain new leadership and management skills. 

“It is sad that some school committees don’t want to allocate funds for heads of schools to attend such forums with a view that they are misappropriating school funds,” he blamed. 

He urged parents to elect school committee members who are educated insisting that schools are not for any clan but the whole community saying some of them require proper training. 

“How can you be a school committee member when you have never even attended class one. The habit that so and so must be on the school committee because the school is within his clan must stop because this amounts to impunity,” he said. 

He urged parents to invest heavily in the education of their children as the best legacy while blaming some parents for engaging into heavy drinking yet they do not take their children to school. 

“Some parents claim to be poor when they can afford illicit brews every day, they are your children and you must assist them to achieve their future ambitions,” he said.