Boards of school management in Baringo county should embrace proper management and effective response mechanisms to pertinent matters in their respective institutions to avoid unnecessary strife among students, especially at this critical moment when candidates are preparing for their national examinations.
Area county commissioner Henry Wafula said tension particularly in boarding secondary schools would be checked if the management could adopt good working relationship with their students at all times.
Speaking to the press in his Kabarnet office Monday, Wafula regretted that dormitories in two secondary schools were razed down Sunday night, where nothing was salvaged, in two separate incidents whose cause has not been established.
The two affected schools included Kituro high school in Baringo Central sub county and Timboroa secondary school in Koibatek sub county.
In the Kituro incident, a 68 bed capacity dormitory was completely razed down with several students losing properties.
The county commissioner said that the cause of the inferno was being investigated by the police to ascertain if it was a case of electrical fault or malicious arson.
He called on school principals and teachers especially those on duty to remain vigilant and seek to establish any form of unusual behavior that may be breeding in their respective schools.
“These are young boys and girls who require extra attention and they need to be taken care of very well,” he said.
However, the county commissioner said there was no cause for alarm as the affected students have been relocated to other dormitories to allow for smooth execution of learning programmes.
He added that matters concerning school safety will first be handled at the school level in its very initial stages and learners will not be sent home unless the situation gets out of hand.
At the same time, the county commissioner has urged learners, particularly candidates preparing to write their national exams in two months’ time to fully concentrate on their studies and avoid being tempted to engage in wayward behaviors that might jeopardize their studies.
by Faith Kemboi/Joshua Kibet
