Bullying at Alliance High School
This is wrong at all levels.
This is a perfect example of The Standford Prison Experiment at work.
The Stanford Prison Experiment

The fact that fellow students were given so much powers over other students is wrong at all levels.

Many parents think that National schools produce good exam results because they teach well. That is simply NOT TRUE. What do you expect when you bring together the brightest children in the country in one school?

National schools do not teach any better than the rest: they just have bright students.

Many years ago, I attended A-Levels at a "Top National School". For the whole of form 5, we had not chemistry teacher. The form 6 class ahead of us had no math teacher at form 5.

We learned these subjects on our own and still managed to score As and Bs in KACE. And I can assure you that there was absolutely NO CHEATING!

My son at Nairobi School tells me there is bullying but not to the extent of Alliance. Some seniors (form 3s & 4s) robbed him of some money at the canteen. Another one robbed his spoon at the dining hall.

In this school, I get the feeling that there is a lot of animosity between all classes: f4 hates f3; f3 hates f2 and f2 hates f1. There was a big fight between f4 & f3 last month. The police were even called in to quell the violence. 20 boys were suspended.

A senior KDF officer removed his son from the school after the boy was beaten badly by form fours. he had to be admitted at hospital.

Apart from the psychological pain of leaving in fear, my son has been safe physically.

This is not a healthy environment for learning and it mus be STOPPED! In our days, bullying was only the preserve of form twos. F3 and above would never do it - it was deemed childish! Today, everybody is doing it and is viewed as a heroic act!

It is SHAMEFUL that prefects are allowed to mete out corporal punishment while teachers are barred from doing by the law. It appears that authority was transferred from the teachers and given to the prefects.

In my former school before the arrival of a certain principal (now former principal, he was high up there in that heads of schools association), the prefects wielded more power than all teachers combined. Some teachers, especially female ones, could send students to be punished (read torture) by the prefects. The prefects office and corridor area was a no go zone even for the innocent and naive. They had this 'the bereaved kitty' where they used to order class prefects to do monthly collections. They'll then squander the money. All these changed when the above principal joined my school. A lot changed!! Prefects in the schools that were started during colonial times and have ancient building prefects have more power than even the deputy principal. I believe this is one area Matiang'i needs to keenly work on.

SAD.....one more manifestation of the culture of impunity that is slowly tearing this nation down! People are obsessed with raw power and leadership is no more about service but self aggrandisement!

teachers are cornered when it comes to discipline. They can't beat the students because it is against the law. The prefects on the other hand have become powerful more than the teachers since they are democratically elected by the students. They usually have mini elections complete with a president and cabinet secretaries. And you are here asking where the rain started beating us. Too much democracy will burn this country. But Kenyans are hypocrites.