On Monday of this week, a school bulding in Kenya had reportedly collapsed in the town of Nairobi at 7:30 am, killing 7 students and injuring dozens. The structure had originally been constructed with one level, however the school later settled on an addition of another level without planning permission. A total of 64 students were being medically treated in Kenyatta National Hospital and were have claimed to have "various soft tissue injuries."
As of now, the cause behind the collapse has not yet been discovered, yet locals have raised assumptions regarding the structure of the building itself. George Magoha, education minister, points blame at the school for not taking adequate measures to have the second floor approved as remodeling of the building would have followed if an inspection had been carried out.
The remainder of the buildings in the school will be subject to inspection before any of the 800 students return to ensure safety. Deputy President of Kenya, William Ruto, addressed the issue by sending out agencies to inspect the multiple buildings and regarded the importance of a safe learning environment for children. However, this is not the first time a building has collapsed in Kenya as in recent years, many structures have fallen. In fact, in 2017, governor of Nairobi, Evans Kidero stated that at least 30,00-40,000 buildings in the town were built without approval and were at risk of collapsing. I am not entirely surprised that such schools would not want to have an inspection carried out due to fear of spending larger amounts of money on repairs and an overall prolonged process. Nevertheless, the school's duty to administer the safety of children greatly outweighs the cost.
Questions:
1) Is the Deputy President, William Ruto, addressing the situation with enough rigor?
2) Should certain laws or requirements be enforced more strictly in order to prevent such incidents? If so, what requirements should be implemented?
3) Should the United States offer aid to Kenya if such development of proper structures is a monetary issue?
While I believe Deputy President Ruto is addressing the aftermath of each case of structural collapse adequate, more regulations and aid to ensure that buildings are safe for the people entering them need to be put in place. From the article, it seems that they are not addressing the root of the problem of schools not bothering to get structures approved because they don’t want to pay the cost. I think to get them to follow the regulations, the government should offer support. And if money is an issue, other countries should help out because the wellbeing of other people's concerns all of us.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Audrey that more requirements should be implemented to ensure that future schools or buildings are built in a safer way. The lives of the students and their safety should be a priority to the schools and the government. The government should offer more financial aid to administer the construction of schools and if they ask for more assistance, I think that other countries should do the best they can to help them out. In terms of the first question, I think Deputy President Ruto is addressing the situation in an effective way as he is making sure the wellbeing of the students comes first.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think the Ruto is addressing this problem well enough because the law that buildings must get a permit before they can build another level or add on was put in place to ensure the safety of the occupants, and since so many buildings have collapsed, I think the government needs to be enforcing these regulations more. I think that some of the requirements should include having a permit or at least permission from authorities, then only being able to hire certified construction companies that know what they are doing. However, I don’t think the US should offer aid to Kenya over this issue because I feel like there are other, bigger issues (both domestic and international) that need to be addressed first, such as helping refugees, implementing a better immigration policy, and working to slow climate change.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Audrey in that Deputy President Ruto must address the root of the problem in order to be able to fully fix this problem. Rather than sending investigators to ensure the buildings meet safety regulations, more emhasis should be placed on creating safer buildings and foundations. Personally, I think that money invested in the process of building a foundation is not wasted; in fact, it minimizes future reparations or remodeling that has to be done, thus saving money in the long term. If such developments are a financial issue, I believe that the US should provide some assistance, as it is a crucial part in ensuring the safety of children in schools. It is not necessary to provide an exorbitant amount, simply the right amount will be adequate enough so that parents will not have to worry about the school building falling on top of their children at school.
ReplyDeleteWhile I understand that other countries may have different economic circumstances from places like the Bay Area, but given that these schools have the funding to build a second story to their school, I would suppose they have ample funding to ensure the safety of their students by having structure checks. Here in America, there are relatively strict regulations regarding student safety (i.e. fire hazard check-ups, safety bags, and numerous drills every year). I think if Deputy President Ruto pushed for such changes and the enforcement of them, accidents like these would be minimized, or at least the building structure and constructors would not be put at immediate blame.
ReplyDelete