Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed has explained that only education stakeholders, chief among them Kenyan citizens, will decide on the fate of public boarding schools.
CS Mohamed explained that the decision could not be made by the Ministry of Education in isolation.
She explained that the measure had been proposed in a bid to settle the issue of recurrent school unrest once and for all.
"Whether to have day schools instead of boarding facilities is a debate that can be determined by education stakeholders. It is a discussion that we need to have going forward," she stated.
[caption caption="Education CS Amina Mohamed takes the podium to speak during a past discussion with education stakeholders"]
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Members of the National Assembly Education Committee had raised a concern that only boarding schools experienced the burning down and student boycotts and not day schools.
Acknowledging the concern, Mohamed reiterated: "Our investigations indicate that students burn dorms and not classes because they want to go home."
Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang added that the boarding school environment had contributed to a large extent to the school unrest.
He further posed a question to the MPs to consider who between parents and the students themselves values the idea of boarding schools.
"Is day school popular with students or parents? Understanding this will guide us, as a society to decide what we want," he suggested.
The Julius Melly-led committee also cited a report prepared by a task force that had been instituted in 2017 to investigate the issue of school unrest, asking the ministry to consider its recommendations.
"In other cases, the keys of the dormitories were kept by students and watchmen contrary to the safety regulations which stipulated that the keys be in custody of dormitory masters, mistresses or prefects," the report observed.
[caption caption="Education CS Amina Mohamed accompanied by PS Belio Kipsang during a past inspection of a school "]
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