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By Benter Opande
The recent tragedy at Endarasha Hillside Academy, in which 21 young pupils lost their lives in a dormitory fire, timely triggered a national conversation about the safety of our children in schools. In response, the Teachers Service Commission issued a circular dated September 13, 2024, to the school heads, calling for strict adherence to the Safety Standards Manual for Schools. Be that as it may, this directive is important; it is the broader factors leading to incidents of unrest and growing safety concerns in our schools which really do call for consideration.
What we require is a rethinking of some of the age-old practices within our system, rather than mere administrative enforcement. For one thing, too many boarding schools are filled with young children; perhaps for the sake of our children, boarding schools at the primary level should be done away with altogether.
Children between 6 and 13 years of age are at a very tender stage of development both emotionally and socially. Boarding schools are mainly prestigious institutions, and there, the children in these tender ages of growth are kept away from the affection of their guardians. No school, however well-organized it might be, is able to replace this emotional security and moral support that the parents will provide. This is because when kids are enrolled in day school, parents can take a more active part in the growth and development of their children, so that the task of raising the kids does not fall solely on teachers.
Discipline and safety of the kids should not be left to teachers and school administrators alone. Parents should be at the core of making sure good character and behavior are instilled in their children. The schools are only a place for academics, while the emotional stability and the values a child needs to be established in life must be taught by parents. Parents’ involvement is not supplementary in education, but it is the base on which the growth of the child depends. The involvement of parents promises to have a positive influence on the child’s emotional well-being, discipline, and academic performance.
Unfortunately, the rise of boarding schools even at the primary level has alienated many parents from the most fundamental role-play of raising their child. Though a boarding school may provide an environment that is well-structured and all-inclusive, it denies the children the daily care and moral guidance that only parents are capable of providing. Children, while in their early childhood years, need assurance and security from trusted adults who can play a role model in front of them. While boarding schools may have organized learning environments, they cannot replace the closeness of love and care found always at home.
Due to daily interaction with the children, parents are better positioned to address the emerging behavioral problems. They can detect signs of distress, disengagement, and changes in behavior which would otherwise have been unnoticed in institution settings. Emotionally, children may feel isolated in boarding schools, leading to anxiety, indiscipline, or destructive behavior. Recent incidents of school unrest do point out the consequence of children being removed from close parental involvement.
Persistent indiscipline and unrest characterized by school-going children attest to a disconnect between that which children are socialized into at home and what is required of schools. Children with limited parental contact are more likely to engage in destructive activities or develop emotional problems beyond the capacity of boarding schools to address. When parents get involved in their children’s education through day schooling, it is easier to ensure that early signs of problems in behavior can be quickly identified so that the required support and guidance can be given to create a well-balanced person emotionally.
In so doing, assuring safety for our children in schools transcends adherence to rules and regulations. True safety involves a partnership wherein the comfort of schools joins with the comfort of homes to create an enabling environment where both parents and teachers take on the responsibility of the children’s welfare. Assuring protection and care for all learners requires deeper collaboration among the three drivers: the parents, school administrators, and teachers.
A policy that abolished boarding schools for primary school children would have families set up the stability and support that children need. It would also provide parents with an opportunity to play more active roles in their children’s lives. Whereas the TSC’s directive on increasing supervision and involving law enforcement when there are cases of indiscipline is necessary, it should be part of a bigger proactive approach whose aim is to ensure children are nurtured and protected within both the school and home environments.
This is not attained by safety through administrative action or taking disciplinary action against the school heads. There needs to be a system wherein parents are made centrality in their children’s development. Abolition of the boarding system at the primary level and encouraging greater parental involvement are ways we can prevent many such tragic incidents that our schools have faced over the years.
Safety and well-being are not peculiar to the mandate of a selected few, but the duty of all. We must now return the responsibility of parents through active participation in the care of their children. Today’s children are the future of Kenya, and how we treat them today will make that future. Ensuring safety through parental involvement rather than isolated systems is the first necessary step toward securing success and protecting the welfare.
The Kenya Women Teachers Association-KEWOTA strongly advocates for equal contribution to child upbringing, both from parents and teachers. Only through joint effort shall we be able to bring up our children in an enabling environment that is conducive to their growth and development.
Benter Opande is the CEO, KEWOTA
