By Douglas Dindi
Kakamega School has enjoyed a relatively enviable status in its rich 90-year-old history as a panacea of academic and sports excellence in the country. The last strike at the school was 42 years ago, caused by bad food.
On November 6th 2021 Kakamega School was temporarily closed down following a fire that gutted a dormitory.
The cause of the fire was not immediately established and authorities said it started at 6 am when students were in classes for morning studies.
This fire, like the rest of fires in schools, was instantly blamed on poor parenting and students’ indiscipline by education CS Prof George Magoha.
After the fire a circular was released by the school administration which alleged that the quantum of the dormitory fire was sh. 21 million to be shared amongst the 2,200 students resulting in a penalty of Sh.9, 823 per student.
The school board intended to use Sh.12.1 million of this money to repair a damaged roof, painting, and electric installations, Sh.4.1 million to buy 140 double decker beds (translating to Sh.30,000 per bed) that burnt at the first floor, Sh.4.5 million lost in students’ belongings and Sh.600,000 for CCTV reinstallations.
Parents were still smarting from anger of a compulsory uniform sold to all form three students at an albeit inflated cost of Sh.16,800, lack of analyzed exam updates for tests done, concerns over reduced food rations, indifferent administration’s high handedness.
As an act of benevolence, the Board of Management (BoM) offered to donate beddings to 560 students-a mattress, two blankets and two bed sheets.
Heated debate on the class social network walls about the penalty ensued and raised pertinent questions that resulted in the court route, engineered by aggrieved parents.
Kakamega School has always stolen the limelight. It always thrilled during schools’ soccer, rugby and drama competitions in years gone by.
This year, the school, being among the over 50 schools devastated by mystery fires across the country, it literally dominated the news headlines albeit in negative ways.
The corridors of justice, is the ultimate theatre sparing learners unnecessary distraction. As a result it emerged that the bad blood between parents and the principal would likely mar this year’s KCSE performance due in April next year.
Seemingly, the ministry projects a saint-like posture of the school administration making it odd that suddenly the school finds itself in the present quagmire. Could it be that the November 10th circular was a trigger that ignited the wrong-errors of omission and commission by the school administration that need fixing?
An offer of a mattress, two blankets and two bed sheets to the 560 students who suffered the loss was too little to sooth parents. A parent said, “The ‘expert’ who quantified the Sh.4.5 million loss for students’ burnt personal items was in such a hurry to bill this cost to parents. How insensitive and blind has this caring BoM become?”
The parent’s demand for a re-assessment of the cost of the damage by an independent expert was rejected by the BoM. The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and the local education official who sit in the board chose silence.
Kakamega governor Wycliffe Oparanya under whose administration, the department of transport and infrastructure that reportedly conducted the valuation, publicly questioned the figures and demanded for the raw report.
On November 15th, form four students trooped back to school after paying the penalty, but in a turn of events, the KCSE candidates walked out of the gate 72 hours later saying they were proceeding for the half term break.
This walkout raised pertinent questions; Are students not convinced the courts would address their concerns or was the fire at Kakamega School carrying a message authorities have failed to interpret?
First the court would cure the dispute between the BoM and parents, but will definitely fall short on issues afflicting the students, because these issues are administrative.
Members sitting on the school BOM admitted that the boys’ walkout pointed to a crisis TSC and the ministry of education must address.
“This year, a number of issues of concern about the school administration were brought to our attention and we gave recommendations,” said one senior member.
He added that the principal is responsible for the day to day running of the school. An education officer who is an ex-official member of the school board admitted there were questions on how the management addressed issues raised by students.
Kakamega School has been a talent hub in the past, but the rain started beating them in 2019, when the school soccer, rugby and drama were branded an epitome of indiscipline.
Allegedly the funding for the same was cut in a move that put the school administration on a collision path with the local community and the Kakamega alumni, which supports a talent development program and education of needy students.
In 2018 KCSE, the school scored a mean score of 6.4 to return a poor third in Kakamega County after Mabole Boys day school in Butere sub-county.
It recovered in the 2019 KCSE to claim top spot in the County but slipped back again in the 2020 KCSE results, where it trailed Butere Girls’ school.
With all said and done, where the bulls lock horns the grass must suffer.
