Otiende Amollo calls for review of internet use after Utumishi fire

Rarieda MP Otiende Omollo / HANDOUT

Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo has called for a review of children’s access to the internet and the formation of a parliamentary committee to investigate the growing cases of unrest in schools following the deadly fire at Utumishi Girls Academy in Gilgil.

Speaking in the National Assembly, Otiende said the country must examine the values being instilled in children and the role of religion, parents, teachers, and technology in shaping their behaviour.

The legislator said raising children was once a shared responsibility involving parents, teachers and the wider community, but argued that the burden has increasingly been left to individual parents and schools.

“As we examine ourselves and agree with the majority leader, we must examine the values that we are instilling the children. We must examine the place of religion,” Otiende said.

“Many of us, when we are growing up, raising a child was a collective responsibility. Now it has been left to the parent and the teacher.”

He argued that teachers have become increasingly limited in their ability to discipline learners and influence their conduct.

“The teacher is disempowered because there is not much the teacher can do other than warn,” he said.

Otiende also faulted some parents for failing to remain actively involved in their children's upbringing once they join school.

“Many of us parents, once we submit the child to school, we wash our hands. The child is left to the internet,” he said.

The MP suggested that some of the behaviours being witnessed among learners may be linked to online content.

“Some of the things they are doing are things that clearly can only be brought from the internet. We must re-examine even the place of access to the internet for everyone,” he said.

Otiende told Parliament that the issue had become too serious to be left solely to education officials and proposed the establishment of an ad hoc parliamentary committee to investigate the causes and recommend solutions.

“Mr Speaker, I think it is time that, as parliament, we form an ad hoc committee to examine unrest in schools. It is not enough to leave it to the department anymore,” he said.

The legislator also questioned the state of infrastructure in some schools, citing what he described as overcrowding in dormitories.

He said photographs from the school affected by the recent fire showed signs of congestion that should concern policymakers.

“Secondly, Mr Speaker, I think that we must also reexamine the circumstances that we are putting the schools through,” Otiende said.

“If you look at the images of that school, and that's a high-end school, you see that the dormitory was highly congested. There were beds on the corridors, there were beds next to the door.”

He linked the situation to pressure created by increased enrolment, arguing that infrastructure expansion had not always kept pace with the growing number of learners.

“This 100% transition without the proper infrastructure is part of the problem,” he said.

The remarks were made as lawmakers discussed the fatal fire at Utumishi Girls Academy, which has renewed debate on school safety, student welfare, and the capacity of learning institutions to accommodate rising enrolment while maintaining adequate safety standards.