The government has proactively taken measures to contain the unfortunate growing cases of secondary school unrest reported across the country. “Burning down any human dwelling place, leave alone a dormitory, is a criminal offence, and the government is taking measures to ensure this comes to an end,” said the government spokesman Erick Kiraithe during a press briefing held in Nairobi.
He highlighted the fact that school management and sponsors must move out of their way and embark on forums to discover every grievance the students have and communicate the message that burning a classroom, a dormitory or a laboratory hampers years of investment and is not a grievance resolution mechanism.
“As the government moves to ensure that the situation is contained we are calling upon all stakeholders to ensure that the conflicts in schools are solved within the established systems without condemning students,” he added.
He urged local politicians and security committees in both sub county and county level to support the schools adding that the government is aware that there are criminal elements involved in the arson attacks, though he gave assurances that the law will soon catch up with them. In order to ensure nothing escapes the attention of the law, he said security agents from the lowest level have been instructed to keep a sharp look out especially in outlets selling petroleum products and lease with the outlets to prevent crime, insisting that any person caught selling petroleum products recklessly will be arrested for participating in the criminal activity.
According to him, statistics show that its only a small percent of students who perpetrate this ugly acts according to a research conducted recently, which indicates that 98.8% of students want to learn. The government has set up a multi-agency team to look into and bring to a stop these incidents. Several schools have been closed down and property of unknown value destroyed in the recent past.
