Bishops call for dialogue on schools crisis

Kenyan bishops last week blamed poor management and declining moral standards for a crisis in schools, which has brought a wave of violent unrest, particularly in the secondary sector, in the past two months. The bishops asked the Ministry of Education to restart the ministry-church liaison committee to help resolve some of the problems, and suggested the abolition of boarding schools, so that parents could take responsibility for properly disciplining their children. The bishops also accused the government of failing to implement the recommendations of various commissions set up to investigate previous school unrest, arsons and tragedies. They supported the ministry on a ban on caning its schools, saying that it failed to reform misbehaviour and inculcated fear rather than values in children.

The wave of schools unrest, which has led to the closure of many schools and the arson or attempted arson of others, threatened to impinge on academic achievement this year, according to school principals cited by the ‘Sunday Nation’ on 29 July. Among the causes they cited for a wave of strikes and violent protests were overprotection of children by parents, drug-use, the overburdening of students with tuition, and the Ministry of Education ban on corporal punishment.