Kenya must address student distress crisis

When schools burn, Kenya’s public conversation quickly turns to blame. We ask: Who carried the match? We pathologise and demonise students; we ask which teacher was negligent. Why are parents absent? What punishment will deter the next incident?

After each deadly blaze, these questions are asked; reports are written, proclamations of “never again” are made, and yet every year a school somewhere burns. Some – when deadly – make it into the national consciousness. Others may not be deadly but are equally destructive.