The fire that razed a dormitory in Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri County last week is simply another episode in a long litany of abject failure by authorities to secure pupils in schools against death and injury. The utter despair and heartbreak of those parents whose children died or were injured in the fire is unimaginable.
It has been a horrific one week for Kenya.
Kenyans have been here before, facing deaths of pupils in schools. Time and again, when this happens, it all comes down to the same thing – there were many commonsensical measures that should have been undertaken that would have forestalled a disaster, but somehow they were not.
In the Hillside case, the questions begging for answers are many.
Why were doors locked from outside, turning the dorm into a veritable death trap? During house fires, the window for escape is in seconds. Locked doors are deadly. Windows should provide easy rescue avenues. Why do school dormitories still have grills on their windows?
There is no evidence that there was an adult in the dormitory, so the presumption is that the boys were all alone. Surely, would the school administration, who obviously are parents, leave their own children all alone at night to their own devices? Who keeps basic discipline in those dormitories at night? What happens when an adult decision is needed in the dead of the night – like a child becoming sick and needing urgent medical attention?
Adults must sleep in these dorms, and they, together with the dorm prefects, must have keys to the doors in case of an emergency.
Reports say the fire raged for hours, starting as early as 11pm. Where were the first responders? What did the school administration do when it learnt of the fire? How long did it take for the school administration to rouse itself up?
As of this writing, school administrators were yet to issue any statement on the disaster, even as it attracted global attention, and riveted the whole country. The owners simply seemed to have melted away. One would assume that the night watchman would alert the teacher on duty and the principal, who would immediately call police and emergency services. The entire government emergency machinery should have been in that school within minutes of that fire starting. What failed?
What this fire incident demonstrates, once again, is that schools, especially those with boarding sections, have no emergency protocols, and are being run in a criminally lax manner. Are these schools even insured against disasters?
The fire also exposes how pitiful county emergency services are. Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga might be quick to go “show support” but he failed the school. If Nyeri had a fire unit stationed in Mweiga town, a short distance from the school, rescue would have arrived within minutes of the fire starting. Parents might now dismiss his gesture as crocodile tears.
Parents and pupils at Hillside have been badly let down by the national government, county officials and the school administration. All stand indicted!
It is easy to throw up one’s hands in utter despair at the despondency and sheer incompetence these authorities have shown. But this matter is perennially so urgent and so critical that Kenyans must refuse to give in to hopelessness. The Hillside tragedy should reignite the resolve to get a permanent security ecosystem enforced in Kenyan schools.
The new Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migosi Ogamba has successfully navigated his first big challenge in office – strikes by teachers’ unions that had threatened to cripple the crucial third term.
The safety of pupils in schools must now become his No. 1 priority. From fire safety and swimming pools to school buses and accidents during school events, he must make this a perennial concern of the ministry. Take personal charge. Let no other parent bury their child because of failure of safety in schools.
