THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BURNING OF OUR SCHOOLS

I

n Biblical times, there was the torrid feud between Absalom and Joab. Joab was a nephew of King David and thanks to his acts of onerous gallantry, loyalty and unheralded leadership was appointed a commander of the King’s Army. Absalom was product of the concord between the King and one of his wives Princess Maacah of Geshur. No man in this world has ever been greatly revered for his inimitable good looks and charisma as this man Absalom. That goes against popular hip-hop artiste; Big Sean’s track – “Man’s Not Hot” but that is neither here nor there.  But in the same token few could replicate his quirks- a proclivity for rage, vengeance, pride and mere petulance. Some of it could have been borne of the fact that he was the King’s third-born son who after killing his eldest brother and taking some time in sojourn afterwards, now saw himself as all but the straight-up inheritor of the throne, no questions asked. As aforementioned his worst foible was petulance. Patience may have been an idiosyncrasy he most despised and so had problems bidding his time. While trying to lead a coup against his father he attempted to incorporate Joab into his reprehensible machinations. Loyal to the King from way back he had an easy choice, No! That choice greatly irked this upstart who had trouble with the ‘accept and move on’ tag-line common in the Kenyan political scene. Tapping on the putrid mannerisms mentioned above he decided to set ablaze Joab’s field of barley and wheat in full-bloom. The seeds of hatred were now sown. Charisma permitting he led a successful coup and usurped his father’s throne and sent him in full flight for his life and that of his family. When David learnt that an army had been dispatched with Absalom as the spear-head to obliterate him once and for all he went down on his knees in orison to the Lord. The Lord gave the green-light for a counter-strike. Fearing a potential encounter between Absalom and his enraged kin, David urged Joab to be gentle with his son. Burning rage was the only thing in Joab’s psyche but he grievingly agreed. The battle was unrelenting, Team Absalom were routed and the new ‘King’ in headlong flight from Joab and his men got his hair all tangled up in the vines, his horse choosing to continue the flight without the payload. Absalom was found dangling, none of his much vaunted charm apparent then. Joab had no time for niceties. With an axe to grind with the young man; target practice was the only game on the cards, three spears to the chest and the job was done. Whoever coined the phrase, ‘revenge is a dish best served cold had this scene firmly in mind. There were tears from the loving father and a monument built in respect of the young man, but as always I digress. 

In a previous blog I have expressed sentiments about Kenya being a land riddled with peculiarities and experiences of uncommon prevalence elsewhere. Indeed, borrowing an excerpt from that blog: ( https://dennismukoya.wordpress.com/2017/03/18/betrayed-memoranda-of-understanding-in-the-bestial-realm/ ) – { No wonder one Michael Joseph, former CEO of Safaricom; the super-capitalized Kenyan mobile telecommunication troika (voice, data, money transfer) after enjoying abundant returns as a result of this virtue or ilk (depending on where you stand) once quipped, “Kenya is a land of queer habits”.} However, our obsequious deference to this phenomenon has recently taken a turn for the utterly bizarre with the actions of our ‘heirs-apparent’- the leaders of tomorrow currently reveling in the most brutish and retrogressive obsession. This is the bush-fire like spread of conflagration and anarchist-like arson in our institutions of secondary school education. This is no doubt a disconcerting state of affairs which deserves discussion as a matter of grave national importance as it has reached endemic proportions. Parents spend exorbitantly and have to sacrifice a lot simply for the well-being of their progeny. They strive to afford their fledgling clan some of the benefits missed out by themselves in their heyday. So needless to say this turn of events is like a hot knife through butter, the butter colloquially referring to the heavily burdened hearts and consciences of that demographic. Even to me, it is sadness beyond grief. Education up in flames!

But how did we get here? Sermons have been preached time on end about education being the great equalizer. Even dubbed, the only weapon against poverty, destitution and pestilence by the Father of equality in South Africa, the most venerable African Statesman Nelson Mandela. In our time we enjoyed learning and acquiescence of knowledge not just for its own sake but to gain insight into the inner workings of the world. This was no skullduggery but a task we reveled in and greatly enjoyed. As a matter of fact there are men like our current Deputy President William S. Ruto who is currently poised a heart-beat away from the presidency. Many rancid and questionable aspersions have been cast on his character either rightly or maliciously but you cannot besmirch him of the fact that education is the main reason he rose from humble extraction hawking chicken and their products in the streets to his contemporary disposition. And so why would anyone want to destroy an institution with such potential for transformation and harnessing of raw-human potential in such an egregious albeit iniquitous fashion?

In the backdrop of all this, what can be more painful

than the prima-facie informed yet intellectually emaciated knee-jerk reactions from Education Ministry aficionados, threats and evasive opinions from the real causative agents of the problem – arm-chair technocrats, men and women who comment on affairs devoid of information, tact, moral authority, wisdom or even the import of basic commonsense? What academic & professional grounding have such ‘luminaries’ on matters of child psychology and pedagogical development as it relates to the changing comportment of the teenager? Some peddle hog-wash about the previous outlawing of corporal punishment being the cause. Then, a finger is pointed to this age-old un-diagnosable syndrome ‘Examination Fever or fervour.’ Few lay culpability on drug-abuse and devil-worship. From throwing liability on boarding schools the spectrum extends to the bizarre nadirs of lack of unified school uniform. Worse still, the superstitious censure the edict by the previous Cabinet Secretary for Education banning Prayer days, opining that the devil has found a path of least resistance into our children. But to whose profit? When you say that the fruit of your loins, the most intelligent creation of the Almighty can only be guided by the doctrine of the cane like some circus animal, doesn’t that speak volumes of the importance you apportion to your own flesh and blood?

These incidences have proved both statistically predictable in terms of date and time, even seeming orchestrated in some sort of choreography such that like the falling of dominoes when one starts, the rest follow inevitably. They flash a sarcastic smile to all government efforts at investigation and future prevention. Talk of Monkey see monkey do. I definitely hold the views in the above paragraph in absolute derision, preferring instead to pay sound credence to the considered opinion I will coruscate below as the real cause of the problem:

   1. Denial of Extra-curricular and Physical exertion. We may not see it but the teenage years are a period of great physical, psychological & social tumult in the life of a human-being. Changes in muscular strength due to puberty gifts upon them physicality of the magnitude they have never witnessed before. As a period when they are most malleable and amenable to peer-pressure and strife to conform to ideals set out by their friends and others around them. Growth also transects to their mindsets and that need to have social relationship with members of the opposite sex becomes ever so palpable. Concomitant with all these, this would be the best time to let the young men and women exploit all avenues of personal expression through both co-curricular and extra-curricular. This would be the prime-time to get into sports, drama, music, debating and all sorts of clubs which will shape up their characters for the future. This forms of expression ultimately prepares these candidates for their future in the working life building traits like tenacity, team-work, planning, resilience against adversity, innovation in strategy, recovery from downturn, how to win and lose in decorum and many other learning opportunities not easily replicated simply by chalk touching the blackboard. So when school policy fails to recognize the need to support this all-round character development, choosing only to gear scholarly efforts towards solely academics there is likely to be a collision course. Academics is definitely not the sole mode of manifestation and path towards success and people like Kylian Mbappe who were not academic powerhouses but have excelled to reach the pinnacle of sporting success are an apt example. As they say all work but no play makes Jack a dull boy. Studies have proved that people learn the most when they disconnect from their daily routine and it cannot be any different with school life.

2.     Lack of Leadership from school heads and Delocalization. This is closely linked with the point above. Inspirational book author Steven Covey puts it in his book, ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ that the leadership-management continuum is like an iceberg. Scientifically, ice has a specific density of 0.92. So putting it contextually management is like that 8% that peeks above the water surface while leadership is that 92% that though unseen lurks under the surface and could potentially sink any ship unbeknown to the captain. Management involves strict adherence to the rules, giving edicts and providing a plan for implementation to scale to the highest point of the ladder of success while Leadership involves wisdom, discussion, consensus building and basically positioning your ladder against the right wall. The Kenyan system of education is unfortunately academically-based. Success in scholarly pursuit is often equated to success in life. Many are the times where under the strain of this fact, school principals deny students even time to unwind simply to maximize on time for syllabus coverage and revision. As a previous principal may have accorded the students sufficient time for school and rest, the incessant changes in school administration may wrought upon us a situation where a new Principal under the pressure to strive to out-do his predecessor cuts out all fun from learning. Stories of schools going up in flames this year simply because the head teacher lacked the foresight to allow the students to watch a World cup final match have not been unheard of. As a quadrennial event how many will any student experience in high school anyway? For that, hard-earned academic infrastructure is lost. How sad! Delocalization of school administration though a noble venture has brought about the biennial instability a right substrate to foment unrest in many schools and is a policy that should be keenly investigated for future viability.   

3.     Collapse of the societal value and reward system. Among the greatest pitfalls of the Jubilee administration is the continuation of the archaic patronage system of governance. Hard work, sacrifice, experience, academic qualifications and other anachronistic yardsticks to determine the right person to appoint for government jobs have become outmoded in their ‘digital’ dispensation. Instead political patronage, tribalism, nepotism, clannism and reward of beer-buddies to state corporations have become the order of the day. In a country where ‘slay-queens’ are paid 50 Million to supply warmth to state functionaries and septuagenarians pulled out of retirement to ostensibly help out in the ‘heavy’ matters of state. Loyalty is no longer reserved for principle but to personalities some of whom could be people tainted by abhorrent and abominable adherence to no particular credentials of achievement, principle, merit and justice. This does not go unnoticed by the ‘leaders of tomorrow’ intelligent enough to emulate the monkey see monkey do axiom. When you see a clearly illiterate character, struggling with expression in English during vetting being named cabinet secretary in a country teeming with highly erudite yet jobless older siblings, what incentive does this youth have to continue schooling any further? This creates a loss of faith that education will ultimately be rewarded with success. When drug lords and cartel-minted tycoons are stationed in the core of the administration how is this to augur well with avoidance of depravity and creation of upright citizens? Simple answer: burn down the schools, put on some make-up, play harlot to the leading political lights and hope to receive state largesse when they eventually ascend to power.

4.     Overcrowding Due to Free Primary Education Success. One of the greatest items of legacy that the Kibaki administration bequeathed upon Kenya is the uptake of the Free Primary Education. Enrollment soared ten-fold and primary education became universal and accessible to all. Fast forward a decade and a half later and the same infrastructure is expected to house all this cohort of students and afford them shoulder room to manoeuvre in the same way it did for much fewer students. Construction of new structures did not keep pace with enrolment and has now been greatly outstripped. When a student comes to school only to sleep on the floor; something of an oddity where he hails from, impetus to continue schooling is greatly diminished. Add to that the attendant malnourishment due to inadequate food rations created by this situation for their rapidly growing bodies and a reduction in visiting days and you get a ghastly mix. 

5.     Change in Parenting Roles. Societal norms are now in reversal. Unlike any other time in our history children are raised by single parents who still have to toil to cater for their needs and those of their families. In due course they hire house helps, referred to as domestic assistants or executives in politically correct terms. The role of raising children becomes transferred majorly to these individuals. Many of them are children themselves and the older ones are not sufficiently tooled to instill a measure of discipline, sound moral grounding, a value system and even a measure of control upon the children. These young men and women grow in absolute freedom and impunity like trees that have never been pruned. The result of this is that the prism through which these boys and girls are expected to view the kaleidoscope that is right distinguished from wrong is severely impaired. “After all people commit crimes in movies and go scot-free, what is burning of a mere school anyway?” becomes their mentality.

6.     Loss of Appreciation and Gratitude for anything. The British imperialists may have colonized Kenya for nearly 70 years but left us with impeccable academic and government institutions. We can consider ourselves fortunate. Most of the countries occupied by the French and Belgians were not so lucky. Let us take an example of DRC. Under Belgian occupation, exploitation of their rich natural resource is the only activity that flourished. Little effort was made to build infrastructure, local capacity and educational institutions. Come independence time the ill-effects of these acts of omission reared an ugly head. The landscape was replete with illiterate men and women not knowing what to do with themselves. War broke out soon after and has been continuous ever since. Stability is a mirage. The similarities with Kenya is that whereas in the former Belgian Congo it is rebel forces who institute a scorched-earth policy in Kenya it is the greatly fortunate descendants of highly refined parentage who put their academies to conflagration. How uncivilized? This can only point to a lack of gratitude for what we have, and as the greatly revered Kenyan lawyer PLO Lumumba puts it, “when we don’t make use of the good cards that have been dealt to us they will be taken away – by the Chinese. It is then and only then that the iridescent value of that commodity will become apparent.”

7.     Social Media fueling negative peer pressure. The advent of social media has brought about transmission of information at speeds never witnessed before. While love missives would take weeks to reach their destinations social media is instant. Add to that Peer pressure prevalent in the youth at that incongruous juncture and the promotion of instant gratification and moral decadence and you get an insurmountable monster. One minute a school is on fire, two hours later another. Not to be left behind yet another 500 Km away is now in flames.

8.    Failure in conflict resolution mechanisms. As a nation we have to take the biscuit as being quite poor in resolving disputes. One moment someone’s father is smartly dressed in a suit. The next moment the seemingly polished gentleman is rolling on the ground singing, “Haki yetu! Solidarity forever!” Someone’s mother leaves the labour union offices as a polished lady bleach, lipstick, weaves and all. The next moment her hips are gyrating in a very macabre manner in protest of some injustice on national television. I would call this act the greater injustice but I’m simply one man with one vote. We just have to air our dirty linen in public, a characteristic that has escaped neither the attentions nor fancies of these young, highly impressionable minds. Upright citizens of tomorrow, please.

9.     Bad Genetics. The fruit rarely falls far from the tree. For instance we have a man given to impunity, greed, injustice and sexual immorality. He meets up with a woman who by her very nature is only attracted to flashy life-styles, shopping trips to Dubai, Range rover vogues, gold digging with eventual plans of existence as a black-widow. You tell me with such an untoward cock-tail of chromosomes; notwithstanding, how is the fruit of this union supposed to be a God-fearing, value-driven individual? You can never draw blood out of a guava.

A drowning man will eternally clutch at straws. Security measures like CCTV and Access Control systems have been variously opined as solutions to this uncouth menace; and despite owning a company that installs and by extension making a living from the same, I dare proffer, submitting with unmitigated contrition that that is an inadequate remedy to the malaise. The true panacea is the inculcation of good values in our children who we should treat as our most highly valued possession. Allow for free extra-curricular expression. Let us endeavour for leadership over management. If not we should determinately brace ourselves for the next round of school fires in second term 2019!