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Forum => Kenya Discussion => Topic started by: GeeMail on August 04, 2015, 10:48:01 AM

Title: Stephjoy school fire - Ban boarding schools
Post by: GeeMail on August 04, 2015, 10:48:01 AM
(http://www.nation.co.ke/image/view/-/2818684/highRes/1080115/-/maxw/600/-/wc9io7/-/DNStephJoy0308y.jpg)
A body of one of the students who was burnt to death during a fire incident at Stephjoy Boys’ Boarding dormitory in Limuru, Kiambu County, that broke out few minutes to 11PM on August 2, 2015. PHOTO | ERIC WAINAINA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

Condolences to the affected families and quick recovery to the injured students.

It's taken another tragedy (the loss of two schoolboys) for the debate to return to national headlines. Why should the ministry of education continue sustaining boarding schools? The ban on mocks is only like spitting into a raging inferno. The bigger issues are child discipline and boarding schools in general. Most schools as they are in Kenya now have several classrooms and a number of dormitories.

http://www.nation.co.ke/news/Students-killed-in-school-arson-horror/-/1056/2818618/-/buf955/-/index.html

Assuming its a modest (provincial) boys' school with 1,000 students, there will be about 10 classrooms, three labs (Chemistry, Physics and Biology). There will also be four or five dormitories accommodating 300 each. Many of us are called each year to harambees for building new dormitories, an unnecessary expense and a death trap as we can see. Of course alongside the overpriced school buses with financing from Sam Con. Well equipped public schools can help reinstate parental control and reduce chances of frenzied kids burning innocent colleagues to escape mock exams. Kaimenyi should be reminded that KNEC also offers mock exams under another banner. Everything about KNEC is a mockery.

As a priority, each county should use CDF to build new schools. That is assuming the facilities used for boarding to be converted to classrooms will not be enough. Parents who insist on boarding can patronise academies like Braeburn and Greensted.
Quote
Franklin Alwanga • 5 hours ago
Our country should seriously begin a discussion as to whether we really need boarding system for schools. Me thinks all boarding schools should be converted into day institutions except in very rare and needy circumstances.
Title: Re: Stephjoy school fire - Ban boarding schools
Post by: Georgesoros on August 04, 2015, 02:42:32 PM
After 50years and counting, fire fighting equipment is a luxury....
Kudos Daily bread, education has been abandoned at the expense of losing a future generation.
Title: Re: Stephjoy school fire - Ban boarding schools
Post by: Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants on August 04, 2015, 05:17:47 PM
I am sure there are fire codes that were not adhered to.  There is probably no point asking when an inspection was last made to ensure that.  It is just by the grace of God, that many of us did not end up like those two kids.  There will be condolences, condemnations.  All the right things will be said.  Then life will go back to "normal" until the same shit happens again.  It reminds me a bit of America and letting any Tom, Dick and Harry have guns.
Title: Re: Stephjoy school fire - Ban boarding schools
Post by: Georgesoros on August 04, 2015, 06:34:33 PM
Education has become a luxury. I remember attending public school in Kenya, but nowadays am told the level of education has significantly gone down. Policy makers dont have a stake in it. THey have their kids in private schools so they have no idea what goes on in these schools. I am told most teachers are busy trying to build their own businesses so prepping for class is a luxury.
Safety is another thing. There is nothing as bad as being told your kid died ina fire. Isnt there supposed to be a watchman guarding these kids against such?
Title: Re: Stephjoy school fire - Ban boarding schools
Post by: GeeMail on August 14, 2015, 02:33:56 PM
Nobody will touch this debate until another tragedy occurs. That is the bigger tragedy.

Education has become a luxury. I remember attending public school in Kenya, but nowadays am told the level of education has significantly gone down. Policy makers dont have a stake in it. THey have their kids in private schools so they have no idea what goes on in these schools. I am told most teachers are busy trying to build their own businesses so prepping for class is a luxury.
Safety is another thing. There is nothing as bad as being told your kid died ina fire. Isnt there supposed to be a watchman guarding these kids against such?
Title: Re: Stephjoy school fire - Ban boarding schools
Post by: Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants on August 14, 2015, 06:18:35 PM
Nobody will touch this debate until another tragedy occurs. That is the bigger tragedy.

Education has become a luxury. I remember attending public school in Kenya, but nowadays am told the level of education has significantly gone down. Policy makers dont have a stake in it. THey have their kids in private schools so they have no idea what goes on in these schools. I am told most teachers are busy trying to build their own businesses so prepping for class is a luxury.
Safety is another thing. There is nothing as bad as being told your kid died ina fire. Isnt there supposed to be a watchman guarding these kids against such?
Exactly.  But even after the next tragedy, no one will do anything about it.  These are things I hate being right about.
Title: Re: Stephjoy school fire - Ban boarding schools
Post by: Georgesoros on August 14, 2015, 07:49:36 PM
Education is the only thing that every country should provide to its children. Otherwise we can as well label them failures.
Title: Re: Stephjoy school fire - Ban boarding schools
Post by: Olekoima on August 15, 2015, 01:08:32 PM
Ban boarding schools? Well yes I agree with that. These dens have become breeding grounds for other things which destroy young minds.
Title: Re: Stephjoy school fire - Ban boarding schools
Post by: Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants on August 15, 2015, 01:52:43 PM
Ban boarding schools? Well yes I agree with that. These dens have become breeding grounds for other things which destroy young minds.
The problem seems really basic.  Locking kids in a dorm from outside with no provision for emergencies.  I would start off by making clear that it is criminal to do that.

You shouldn't be able to lock a free person in a building.
Title: Re: Stephjoy school fire - Ban boarding schools
Post by: GeeMail on August 17, 2015, 01:08:14 PM
Ban boarding schools? Well yes I agree with that. These dens have become breeding grounds for other things which destroy young minds.
The problem seems really basic.  Locking kids in a dorm from outside with no provision for emergencies.  I would start off by making clear that it is criminal to do that.

You shouldn't be able to lock a free person in a building.
Exactly. Are schools supposed to be prisons or what? And why is it that there is no mention anywhere of fire fighting equipment that are pretty much the standard in all public buildings (in the US at least)? There have been numerous fires in schools and so many kids have died. One would imagine the ministry of education would make it mandatory for a school to provide fire extinguishers, conduct fire drills and appoint fire marshals. This is very basic stuff and the cost is nothing compared to those school buses that you see all over town when there is music or drama festivals.
Title: Re: Stephjoy school fire - Ban boarding schools
Post by: mya88 on August 20, 2015, 03:36:18 AM
Ban boarding schools? Well yes I agree with that. These dens have become breeding grounds for other things which destroy young minds.
The problem seems really basic.  Locking kids in a dorm from outside with no provision for emergencies.  I would start off by making clear that it is criminal to do that.

You shouldn't be able to lock a free person in a building.

Banning boarding schools is not the solution to the fire problem. These kind of kneejerk reactions help no-one. The building full of children must be locked to keep the kids safe, but it should be locked from the inside and there should be matrons in the building with the kids. There should be fire escape routes in all floors leading outside. Also, the buildings need not go past 2nd or 3rd floors to make escape easier. I went to a boarding school in Nairobi and it was the game changer in my life. To date that has been the defining point in my life and I would do it again and again.