Schools In Garissa Put On Notice Over Fire Incidents

GARISSA,Kenya, Nov, 12 – The Northeastern Regional commissioner Nicodemus Ndalana has warned students and school staff who collude to torch schools that drastic actions will be taken against them

Speaking at Garissa High School after meeting education and security officials from Garissa County, Ndalana said that the region is already facing serious problems resulting from the current drought and his officials will not accept school fires to continue.

“This region is already dealing with the effects of drought. We are concerned about providing food and water to the communities affected and we will not allow any student or school staff to torch schools,” Ndalana Said

“Investigations are ongoing for the arson attack that happened here (Garissa high school) and the one at Garissa University. Those who were involved will be prosecuted and will serve as a deterrent to others because we do not want to hear any other case of arson in future,” he added.

Garissa High school Board of Management Chairperson Abdirahaman Godad said that the board will decide the course of action after receiving investigations report on the Monday 8 fire incident that razed down a dormitory in the school.

“If it is confirmed that it is the students who burned the dormitory, the parents will bear the cost of the repair of that dormitory. We, however, will continue working with the parents and security officials to ensure that such incidents don’t happen again,” Godad said

Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Garissa branch executive secretary Abdirazik Hassan said that school fires in the northeastern regions are very unfortunate especially when their parents have lost most of their livestock due to drought.

“Students in these areas are privileged because they can afford three meals a day. Parents in these areas are struggling to get food, water and animal feeds and will not be able to pay damages fees,” Hassan said

“There used to be punishment which was outlawed through an act of parliament, there used to canning which was also outlawed. I think we need to revisit that idea and see how best we can do to discipline our children,” he added

He asked the parents to be on the forefront in ensuring their children are well mannered and disciplined instead of completely delegating their duties to teachers.

“Some parents become lawyers for their children when they are invited to schools to discuss indiscipline cases. We want to see parents taking their full responsibility,” Hassan said

The Garissa KNUT boss called for the establishment of the office of the ombudsman in schools to collect and share information that might be able to solve challenges raised by both the teachers and students.

“We need to have suggestion boxes for students, teachers and the students in every school so that they can share information without indicating their names. The ombudsman can collect all that information and share with officials for further action,” he said

On Sunday,November, 72021 Garissa University was closed indefinitely following several fire incidents over the last 2 months, while Garissa high school was closed on Monday 7 and one of their dormitories was torched.