By Nelson Komba
The numerous cases of schools being razed down had left me with more questions than answers. Some of the destroyed property are those parents struggled to fundraise so that students can have a conducive learning environment.
It’s a sad scenario because orphans and students from marginalized communities will have a rough time finding new school items and might even end up not resuming school.
Such incidents should be condemned and contained. As education experts talk of schools investing in early technological response mechanisms, it’s astonishing to see that the role of non-teaching staff in schools is not given emphasis.
I remember how our school cook knew things about us that our class teachers never knew. If we invited our cook to our class meetings, we never uttered a single word.
We befriended him during our school opening days with cookies and he never mentioned anything, especially how we made special meals during the “Githeri” Wednesdays. After sneaking out of school at night, some students bragged about how they bribed the guards and shared some tactics on how to go about negotiating the best deal once you were caught.
Some of my friends always visited the laboratory during games times for extra studies, only to fall asleep during evening preps. How they mixed some of those samples, only the school lab technician could explain.
The school computer lab was another chaotic place where form four students could skin you alive if they found you there without a teacher. The lab technicians allowed these students to watch obscene contents on the school computers in the wee hours of the night.
Looking at these examples, you may want to ask whether the non-teaching staff play a crucial role in holistic learner development. You will be shocked to find that they are a critical contributor to the success of a school and are also pillars and linkages between a school and the local community.
The non-teaching staffs provide schools with the needed essential services. For instance, school caterers must ensure that food is prepared in line with the standards and regulations as enshrined in the Ministry of Public Health Act. The school chaplain has the great role of instilling Godly values in students, guiding and encouraging them to remain disciplined.
It’s astonishing to find out how schools treat non-teaching staff with a lack of seriousness. Some are never invited to attend school meetings yet at times, students share concerns with these staff.
School principals and the Board of Management (BOM) do not listen to the inputs of the non-teaching staff .At times, some schools hire incompetent villagers from the community without any background checks. Some are hired and fired without notice and others leave the schools with hard emotions. Some end up being suppliers of illicit drugs in schools and collaborate with students to supply harmful products like petrol because they have no other job to do.
School principals and the Board of Management have a critical role in investing in non-teaching staff to alleviate some of these ugly incidents we have witnessed recently. They should invest in establishing proper communication channels that can aid early reporting of planned awful activities. Schools should also have monthly non-teaching staff briefs to allow the staff share critical concerns raised by students that might have serious implications.
Non-teaching staff should not be victimized for reporting concerns that students are facing and are not able to share with their class teachers.
In the same vein, they should be trained on early response mechanisms and disaster mitigation. Basic skills in firefighting and conducting first aid should be made mandatory.
In conclusion, schools should treat the non-teaching staff as a critical organ responsible for holistic learner development. The hiring process should be thorough and subjected to background checks.
Komba is Alumni and Communication Coordinator, Generation Kenya
