- Former LSK president Faith Odhiambo has urged the Ministry of Education, school boards, parents, and student leaders to treat escalating school riots and fires as a national crisis requiring immediate action.
- Odhiambo warns that unrest is not isolated but part of a disturbing pattern of arson, violent protests, and unresolved tensions undermining safety and discipline in learning institutions.
- She emphasises the need for conversations on student welfare, mental health, governance, and discipline, alongside concrete safeguards to restore stability and protect learners.
Former Law Society of Kenya (LSK) president Faith Odhiambo has called for urgent national intervention to address the growing wave of unrest in schools, warning that the recurring riots and dormitory fires reflect a deeper crisis within the education system.
In a statement following the latest dormitory fire at Jomo Kenyatta Boys High School in Bahati, Nakuru County, Odhiambo urged the Ministry of Education, school boards, parents and student leaders to work collaboratively to restore safety and stability in learning institutions.
“I call on the Ministry of Education, school boards, parents and student leaders to treat the wave of school riots as an urgent national concern. Secure every learner, investigate each incident thoroughly and implement concrete safeguards and dialogue mechanisms so that schools remain places of safety, learning and hope, not recurring scenes of fire, fear and chaos,” said Odhiambo.
Odhiambo said the latest incident should be a wake-up call for authorities, warning that cases of unrest have become increasingly frequent in schools across the country.
“We are seeing too many school riots and the fire at Jomo Kenyatta Boys High School in Bahati, Nakuru, is the latest, terrifying warning that we are failing to listen to what is happening in our learning spaces,” Odhiambo stated.
“This is not just about one school; it is part of a disturbing pattern of unrest, arson and violent protests in institutions that should be nurturing our children, not endangering them,” she emphasised.
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The former LSK president warned that the frequency and severity of the incidents indicate that underlying tensions within schools are not being adequately addressed.
“When police and firefighters are overwhelmed by a blaze inside a school compound, it means we have allowed tensions, breakdown in discipline and unresolved grievances to reach a dangerous boiling point,” she said.
Odhiambo urged the country to move beyond treating each incident as an isolated occurrence and instead confront the broader challenges affecting learners.
“As a country, we must stop treating these incidents as isolated drama and start confronting them as a systemic crisis. We need honest conversations about student welfare, mental health, school governance and the pressures our young people are facing, alongside firm but fair discipline and clear consequences for violence and destruction,” she said.
Her remarks come amid a resurgence of school unrest that has seen several learning institutions experience riots and fires in recent weeks.
By Frank Mugwe
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