By Victor Ochieng’
vochieng.90@gmail.com
Last week, one of the national girls’ secondary school in the slopes of Mt. Kenya was trending for some controversial reasons. A section of girls were suspended for taking two servings of a special meal offered on Sunday, January 16, 2022. The deputy posited that this peccadillo made some girls to miss food. The girls suspended were also slapped with a ‘fine’ of Sh10,550 to cater for a special meal for the whole school.
The same national school also trended during 2021 Form One admissions. There is a video that went wildly viral; of a crest-fallen woman who was sobbing uncontrollably because her hopes were shattered. Her daughter had been placed in this national school. She travelled all the way from Western Kenya to chaperon her scion to school, but upon arrival, she was shell-shocked. She had been short-changed. The highly-coveted chance had bombed into oblivion. As a child of a lesser god, she had nothing to do, but only cry. No one was around to prop her up with words of hope and help: Weep not, mother. Don’t cry, try.
Of course, this girls’ school was upgraded to the national status in the recent past. It is still teething. It has milk teeth not able to bite. There was even a time parents stormed out of an Annual General Meeting (AGM); protesting over preposterous increase of school levies.
In the whole scheme of things, one wonders whether discretion reigns in such schools. On the issue of the girls who went back to serve the yummy meal, I cannot pen this piece to laud their mischief, but seat-of-the-pants-sense tells me that the school arrowheads should have conjured a simple way to handle this small indiscipline case, instead of washing dirty linen in public. In the raft of school rules and regulations, I think what these girls contravened is a misdemeanour not a felony.
Somehow, a prudent principal should be well-conversant with the teens’ idiosyncrasies. They are people with fat appetites. Their age and stage makes them gyrate and gravitate towards good food. So, it beats logic and defies common sense to suspend children for serving twice. In relation to this administrative directive, any sane and sober Kenyan would ask: When these gluttonous girls went back to serve the ‘special meal’ where were the prefects and teachers on duty? Another quality question is: Where should the parents be made to pay Sh 10,550? Is this the best way to correct the gourmand girls?
In retrospect, before secondary schools closed for the December holiday, there was a spate of strikes that hit schools like a tidal wave. Students lit ferocious flames of fire that razed down buildings. Some schools that were affected compelled parents to cater for losses. In one national school in Western Kenya, the case went to court. But eventually the school won. In a national school in Nyanza, where I was born and brought up, impudent students torched the school twice. Parents catered for the losses. In addition, there was a compulsory toxicological test to ascertain the boisterous boys high on narcotic drugs.
Once again, I am not writing to defend impertinent students. Albeit, in a normal society where we have a sea of students, there will be no shortage of aberrant behaviour. Schools are melting pots. All ilks of learners are there. No wonder, a school should strive to establish a strong system, culture and tradition. There should be puissant programmes put in place to develop students who are well-cultured instead of banking on indiscipline cases to mint money!
Over and above, the challenge with some teething national schools is that they lack colourful qualities that make schools great and glorious. That is why you hear of a school suspending students on trivial grounds like noise-making or going for paper two of meals.
Again, I think it is high time, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC). Time is ripe they get to understand that principals make or break schools. They should be keen on who they deploy to steer these teething national schools. The school is the principal, and the principal is the school. Dr. John C. Maxwell postulates: Everything rises and falls on leadership.
Administrators ready to oil cogs of corruption should read and (re)search about the legendary leadership of the likes of Dr. Geoffrey William Griffin of Starehe Boys and Carrey Francis of Alliance High School. Their administration was not tainted by the lure of lucre. They remain stencil on the metal sheets of unfolding generations because they were more student-centred. They didn’t eat first. They understood the dictum: leaders eat last.
Moreover, some principals of teething national schools should pick lustrous lessons from their contemporary counterparts of well-established national schools. Kenyans hardly hear scandals emanating from some national schools. Why? Because the management of those top-tier schools know the things that define a national school, they know that they are centres of excellence, not mediocrity. So, they avoid all these forms of good ignominy.
Just to be blunt about it. Reputable national schools don’t just focus on the game of mean scores and peak performance in KCSE. But they build their brands with brilliance. They guard their good name and fame with ferocity. As someone who visits all calibre of schools, and confers with principals on daily basis, I can make be clear like crystal: It is easy to point out a national school that has refused to grow or cut its milk teeth. Principals of reputable national schools are well-cultured and courteous to the core. Through it all, you hardly see them getting into such squalid scandals.
Therefore, some teething national schools should know that the notion of a school being upgraded to national status is something noble, which must be guarded with a lot of positive pride. National schools should be punctuated with prestige and class. Not shouting shame.
The writer is an editor, orator and author.
