KNUT Secretary General Wilson Sossion has blamed the cabinet secretary for education’s drastic reforms to curb exam cheating in Kenya as the cause of the on-going school fires.
Speaking on Citizen TV on Tuesday morning, Sossion said that students have been burning schools without any influence from their teachers. “It is students who are burning schools. There are no third parties in the school fires. If there are, let us be shown the evidence,” he said. “The cause of these fires is government policy. This crisis does not require blame games. We must save property in every school,” he noted.
Sossion further called for the closing of schools. “Let these children go home and spend time with their parents. Spare parents the cost of infrastructure,” he said. So far, over 120 schools have been set on fire by students. Some of the cases are suspected to have involved teachers.
According to a report published by the Standard last week, some schools have been going up in flames out of fear of poor performance in national exams since a majority of cheating loopholes have been filled.
Some teachers and students have been arrested and charged in court. Sossion called for their immediate release.
