Schools take excess students over appetite for money: Dr. Mukundi

School heads have been called out for enrolling excess students over their appetite for money. According to Dr. Mukundi, Keyan schools are running wild ignoring admission rules on student capacity.

During an exclusive interview on TV47 Daily Report with George Maringa, education expert Dr. John Mukundi called out schools for taking in excess students.

His comments come as the nation mourns the loss of 21 pupils taken by the Hillside Academy Endarasha fire strategy.

What was notable from the tragedy is that the dormitory in question was housing 156 boys which many question why it had that many pupils.

Dr. John Mukundi a director at Royal Fanaka Academies called out the economic motivations that push schools to overcrowd their schools.

According to him, most boarding schools hold capacities beyond what they are qualified to hold and cater for at a time.

Dr. Mukundi: They took 5 hours to respond to the Hillside fire

Additionally, Dr. Mukundi also called out the response time it took firefighters to respond to a fire at Hillside Academy Endarasha.

According to him, five hours was just too long and unacceptable to have a fire response team respond to a fire incident.

“If they had reduced it to 30 or 15 minutes, it would have been better. The five hours brought a lot of disaster and amplified the situation,” he stated.

Notably, he also put to task the proximity of key strategic resources to essential institutions like schools at the county level.

During his interview, he stated that the county governments were responsible for ensuring certain resources were housed within schools in readiness for calamities.

Policies with no implementation

During his sessions, Dr. Mukundi highlighted that tragedies do not just require the writing of policies but readiness for their implementation too.

“It has to do with not only writing policies down but implementing them. If we have a strict Cabinet Secretary that will tell us ‘this is the way to go’ I believe it will definitely happen.” he stated.

Consequently, the Safety Act Education Act (Cap 211) stipulates safety measures to be followed by schools to ensure learner safety.

As investigations continue, with the Hillside Academy dormitory holding 156 pupils, it is unclear if it violated the recommended safety guidelines.