In 2016, there were several incidents of schools in Kenya burned down by students. At that time there was a massive crackdown on how examinations were being administered, and the government was cracking down on cheating.
Although some officials said the schools’ unrest was also due to clannism and political influence, however, it was not very clear why students were on the rampage.
Recently, there has been an increase in fires in schools and statistics show that most of the institutions torched happen to be boys’ schools. Is this just a case of boys behaving badly?
It has been almost an entire year at home due to coronavirus restrictions, and now these students have gone back to strict rules and regulations in boarding schools.
Many boys were probably working, perhaps operating boda bodas and contributing their earnings to household budgets.
Some learned how to run small businesses or even worked with their parents because staying home and just eating was not an option for many, it was economically impractical.
Then here came 2021, and the government declared that schools be opened amidst the coronavirus pandemic. One has missed an entire year, and for some it was the year they were to sit their final examination.
They now have to take the examination in a few weeks, and squeeze a year’s syllabus into a few months, then sit an examination that will determine their future.
This reminds me of the reason I never did well in Kiswahili. I had this teacher who would always lecture us on how important examinations were, and if we did poorly, we would do poorly for the rest of our lives. I remember at that young age feeling anxious. I was panicking over examinations, and I thought that I was never prepared enough for examinations.
One year at home was difficult for adults to adjust, but what of children. Especially children who were to transition, from secondary to university or to the school of life because one is officially an adult.
With the weight of the world on their shoulders, the only sense of security would be to delay making important steps and that would entail burning down the school.
Sending everyone home, not forever, but just for enough time to come to terms with reality.
By the time a child decides to risk everything to burn school property, it cannot be blamed on just bad behaviour. Some would argue that corporal punishment needs to return because children these days are behaving badly.
Children these days are dealing with matters unheard of: Who would have thought they would live through a pandemic and learn while wearing masks all day and keep distance from their friends?
Nerima Wako-Ojiwa, executive director at Siasa Place @NerimaW
