Busia County Director of Education Thaddeus Awuor has expressed concern over rising cases of strikes within Secondary schools in the area.
Speaking to KNA in his office, Awuor said that three cases of strikes have been reported in the County last week alone.
“In this third week alone, we have had challenges in three schools namely Lung’a, Busijo and Namnyweda secondary schools,” he said.
He stated that on Monday last week, a section of students from Lung’a Secondary School in Busia Sub County locked the classrooms and library and barred other students from learning.
“They staged a peaceful demonstration to the Assistant County Commissioner’s office and presented their grievances but they were later addressed by the Sub County Director of Education and resumed learning,” he said.
The official stated that the students were complaining about their principal, Board of Management, poor teaching and strictness among teachers.
“I later sent a team of officers to investigate the matter and they met with a few parents who finally resolved the issue,” he said, adding that there might be some incitement from the community to attack the principal who is performing her duties as required.
The Director at the same time stated that the students at Busijo Secondary School in Samia Sub County also complained of strictness among teachers, flooded latrines and being prevented from studying in the school during weekends.
“Investigations revealed that the principal had no issue,” he said adding that the latrines have been affected by high water level through the back flow from L. Victoria but plans are underway to provide them with mobile toilets through the support of the Kenya Red Cross Society of Kenya.
Awuor also said that students from Namnyweda Secondary School in Samia Sub County were also planning to stage peaceful demonstration but their plans were thwarted after intervention of the area Deputy County Commissioner.
He advised the Sub-County Directors of Education of the affected schools to organize Board meetings to investigate the grievances and address them.
“I would like to advise our parents to take the responsibility of their children instead of leaving it to teachers,” he said.
“If a school is improving gradually, it must have come from very far and they must have done a lot,” he said, adding that improvement no matter how little, should be appreciated.
He urged principals to come up with strategies that will help in improving quality of grades in the schools across the county adding that seminars will also be organized for Board Members to sensitize them on their roles.
“We have also agreed with the Sub County Directors that where performance has been wanting, we will encourage benchmarking, organize workshops and enhance school-based evaluation tests so that we are able to know the performance of every school,” he said, adding that the learners must be kept busy.
“We will not condone any nonsense that will derail the performance of learners,” he said, adding that the County registered improvement in the 2020 KCSE and is the second best in Western Region.
By Salome Alwanda
