By Fr Samuel Wachira

In Whoopi Goldberg’s evergreen movie ‘Sarafina’, which depicts life in apartheid, South Africa, there is a striking scene where the headmaster of a school laments to a police officer over the constant intrusion of the soldiers into the school compound. “To me, a school is a sacred place, it can only be equated to a church thus it should not be defiled,” he says.

This is a statement that carries a lot of weight because all the teacher wants the soldier to understand is that there is more to the buildings; here lies the future. Many sights are abhorrent and heartbreaking- like the sight of a burning library. Such is the sight of a burning school. In the last two months of the past year, the spate of burning dormitories and students walking out of schools became a norm.

As I delve into this debate, the stakeholders of a school can be consolidated into three; students, teachers and parents. They are interdependent and if one fails to function, the centre will not