Murang’a school unrest to be handled by multi-agency teams under the new directive
Murang’a deputy county commissioners have been directed to form multi-agency teams to deal with student unrest.
Students have recently destroyed property in nine of the county’s schools.
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County commissioner Fred Ndunga stated that all education stakeholders, including the sub-county director of education and security officers, will be represented on the teams.
He stated that students in the affected schools have expressed dissatisfaction with the tight class schedules that have left them with little time for extracurricular activities.
However, Ndunga claims that an in-depth investigation of the cases revealed that the students involved were simply indisciplined, with some engaging in drug abuse.
He stated that principals will now be held fully accountable for their schools and will be required to report any student complaints that could lead to unrest to the sub-county multi-agency team for action to be taken.
If incidents of school destruction occur before the principals notify the authorities about the issues raised by the students, Ndunga stated that investigations will begin with them.
“The work of the Ministry of Interior is to create a conducive environment, but the management of the school is the role of the principal,” the commissioner said.
Ndunga also wants principals to maintain good relationships with the surrounding community and to notify authorities if there are any problems.
Outsiders entering schools to disrupt learning, he said, should be reported so that action can be taken against them.
He directed principals to install CCTV cameras in their schools to monitor what is going on.
Starting with the assistant chief, all national government administrative officers were directed to monitor schools in their areas and report any incidents.
He stated that the Directorate of Criminal Investigations will investigate cases of student indiscipline and requested the cooperation of all leaders.
Ndunga mentioned that he is in the process of calculating the cost of student unrest in schools.
He noted that several students had been taken to court and that some had admitted to participating in the destruction of school property.
“Some have told us that they bought petrol to burn down school property because they did not want to be in the school any more,” Ndunga said.
The commissioner also asked principals to ensure that dormitory building codes are strictly followed so that students are not harmed when there is unrest.
He did, however, say that, unlike the case of Buruburu Girls High School in Nairobi, where a fire broke out while students were in the dormitory, many fire incidents happen in class.
Meanwhile, Ndunga has requested that all jua kali artisans who have not yet registered do so in order to benefit from the economic stimulus program project of building 11,600 classrooms.
He stated that schools will receive between one and four classrooms, which will be built by artisans near the schools.
Murang’a school unrest to be handled by multi-agency teams under new directive
