Student Strikes Paralyze 300 Kenyan Schools
Learning in over 300 Kenyan high schools has been paralyzed in the past one month in the biggest wave of student strikes to ever affect the East African country. Last Saturday, a student was burned to death when he was trapped in a dormitory set ablaze after students rioted overnight at Nairobi’s Upper Hill School. Kenyan Education minister Prof. Sam Ongeri has set up a committee to investigate the causes of the unrests and report to him within 24 hours. The secretary general of the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), Francis Ng'ang'a, has meanwhile urged the government to reintroduce corporal punishment in schools, saying the strikes were fueled by indiscipline among students. [PE]