An Education union official has said a high number of strikes being witnessed across the county might be as a result of students panic over exams.
Meru Central branch Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Executive Secretary Caxton Miungi said the students unrest mostly occurs during the second term of the school calendar.
Miungi said many schools across the country sit for their mocks during the second term and many students fear their parents or teachers will inevitably discover their poor performance academically once the results are out.
“Most strikes occur in second term and in my opinion learners sitting their final exams engineer them. In order to cover their declining academic performance, they initiate such unrest,” aAthe Knut official said.
He spoke on Wednesday during a press briefing in Meru town.
He added strikes rarely happens during the first term.
“Other learners for reasons only known to them join the strike to express their displeasure or vent against different issues. The learners just wants to express themselves regardless of whether the parents will be made to compensate for the lost or damaged property,” Miungi said.
He urged parents to talk to their children to avoid student unrest.
He said during their times in school, majority of them hailed from poor background.
Miungu said many learners now try everything possible to be sent home unlike in previous years.
“We stayed in muddy houses and rarely wore shoes due to the hardship we faced. Many of us were always excited and looked forward to joining the much hyped boarding schools unlike the current generation who mostly hail from wealthy families,”he added.
He said during his time in schools many homes had no piped water forcing them to fetch from the river banks.
The KNUT official said a balanced diet with meat was scarce at the time.
Edited by John Majau
