ODM MP Insists No School Should Get Boarding Status Without Fire Extinguishers, Matrons Near Dorms
Kibra Member of Parliament (MP) Peter Orero has stated that no school should be approved as a boarding institution if it does not meet a required operational standard.
Speaking on Monday, Orero stated that installing fire extinguishers and having patron residences close to dormitories should be among the mandatory requirements for any institution seeking ‘boarding school’ designation.
Orero argued that meeting this criteria will help to prevent deadly fire incidents that have claimed the lives of students, including the most recent case at Endarasha Hillside Academy in Nyeri County, which claimed 21 lives.
“These basic requirements should be the items that a boarding school must have before it is approved. A fire extinguisher is mandatory they are not that expensive,” said Orero speaking to Citizen TV.
MP Peter Orero: All boarding schools must be equipped with fire extinguishers, and there should be matrons available to sleep in the dormitories with the children in case of a fire #CitizenDayBreak @AyubAbdikadir pic.twitter.com/B8WigdMFhk
— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) September 9, 2024
“We must ensure that each dorm must have a housemaster or mistress who stays with these kids next to the dorm. We have schools where even teachers do not stay near the school. Even the boarding mistress does not have a house there.”
The legislator questioned why private investors are permitted to build educational institutions without any teaching experience.
Orero argued that learning institutions should be managed and run by people who have received training on how to run a learning institution, ideally teachers.
“You realise that some of the directors of private schools are not teachers they have not done psychology, sociology, philosophy, [and] management. How do you manage a school and you were never a teacher,” noted Orero.
Appearing in the same interview, Dagoretti North Member of Parliament (MP) Beatrice Elachi opined that boarding should be scrapped from all primary schools.
She argued that young students should be enrolled in day schools until they reach adulthood and that sending them to boarding schools poses a significant risk to their safety.
“Let parents take care of their children in primary school as they move to highschool,” she said.
“These children (Endarasha victims) were choked by the smoke and because they are babies their respiratory (system) is very fragile that is why many went.”
According to AfricasNow, the deadly fire may have been caused by an electrical fault.
In an interview with one of the parents whose son survived the tragedy and who requested anonymity, it all began near the main entrance, where students from Grades 5 to 8 are housed.
The parent explained that sparks from a bulb near the main door of the dormitory could have caused the fire.
According to reports, the matron and a security guard who rushed to the scene alerted teachers who live on the school grounds, who assisted in the evacuation of students as the dormitory burned down.
According to her, the fire started at the first bed next to the main entrance, which was occupied by a Grade 5 student who survived.
According to government spokesman Isaac Mwaura, 19 bodies were recovered at the site, with another two dying in hospital.
He said that 139 of the 156 boys in the dorm at the time were now accounted for, either at home or in hospital.
ODM MP Insists No School Should Get Boarding Status Without Fire Extinguishers, Matrons Near Dorms
