Rioting Kenyan Schools. Blame the system?

A few years back a pal of mine was proud to say that he was a former student of upper hill high school. Upperhillians, he said were students who let their hair grow a little too long, and preferred non-physical sports like soccer and basketball to rugby. That was back when upper hill was a day school. Now upper hill is known for sodomy and pyromaniacs. Now he hangs his head in shame whenever the school is mentioned.

Over 200 kenyan schools have gone on strike in the last month. The studnets who initially refused to sit for mock exams did so because they found out that the examinations council had been using the mock grade as the final grade for students who they suspected of cheating. Some students who had planned on cheating then resolve dthe best way was to avoid sitting for mock exams. But now what began as a few students refusing to sit for mock exams has now become a full scale protest against the education system.

450,000 students sit for class 8 exams yet only 15,000 get into affordable universities after high school. 99.97% of students who enrolled in primary school will not get a degree and the chance of a better life. As a result parents and teachers will do anything to push thier kids to success. Beatings, holiday tuition, deprving them of a fun childhood.

We need more state universities. We need private universities to offer full scholarships to bright students so that they become recognisable. We need the pressure to pass with exceptional grades to reduce. We want students who read to learn, not students who are drilled for exams.

How can we make our country proud again?

Like the vast majority of Kenyans, last week i was still standing by a hardline stance. By the end of last week there were two opinions on what should happen depending on what side you were on. Kibaki should resign because he stole votes openly or Raila should stop violence let kibaki have his 5 years and co-operate with the govt.

I fell on the side calling for kibaki's resignation. Now i just want peace. The country to return to some state of normallcy. Would it come if kibaki resigned or Raila backed down? At this point i think not completely. Things have gone a bit too far. Were Kibaki to resign now the PNU supporters would feel things were taken away from them by violence. And now that there man is gone, thier businesses will be targetted openly. they would start forming thier own groups to stike back where they can. Were Raila to submit to kibaki being president, i feel the current violence would continue.

The solution? First something must be done about the election results. Nobody recognises them and that includes the international community and maybe Kalonzo. A re-election. Perhaps after an acceptable timeframe. But even this is not enough. Both ODM and PNU must work together to repair this country.

One cannot govern this country without the other. they must together form a govt to bring kenyans together and investigate the injustices. There is more to this than meets the eye. Then once that is done let us go fight each other with voter cards again.