Something struck me as rather odd about the Friday requiem mass for the eight pupils of Nairobi’s Precious Talent Academy killed when their classrooms caved in last week.
There was no baying for the school owner’s blood in the speeches.
A handful of people even showed up with placards calling for Moses Wainaina’s release from police custody.
The mood at the Telcom Grounds in Dagoretti was in stark contrast to the hostile tone set by the media coverage of the tragedy last Monday.
There is no doubt that Mr Wainaina should be made to answer for his role in the tragedy.
But the residual goodwill his school, which has since been closed, appears to enjoy in that community should give the education authorities pause, even as they think of ways to avoid similar disasters occurring in future.
The immediate response to the tragedy suggests a view within government that the growth of poorly built private learning centres in low-income neighbourhoods, popularly known as informal schools, has everything to do with a lack of a public school nearby.
So in addition to having the Precious Talent Academy’s more than 900 pupils enrolled in neighbouring schools, the government plans to build a new public primary school in the area.
If this were the case, then informal schools would now be history following the implementation of the free primary education (FPE) programme since 2003.
It is important to note that these learning centres charge fees, and that a parent would ordinarily find it more costly to enroll his or her child there than in a public school.
Their enduring popularity and growth therefore suggest that the so-called informal schools are fulfilling some education need that those parents strongly believe they can’t get in the public ones.
Questions have been raised about the quality of education in public primary schools, with teachers having to handle very large classes in light of increased enrolment rates.
Rampant teacher absenteeism and national exam mean score-driven rote learning are among other reasons cited for the low quality.
A 2013 survey by the education NGO Uwezo Kenya found that more than 70 per cent of pupils in Class Three could not read Class Two work, for example.
Household poverty, a corrupt management culture in public primary schools and weak inspection by the Ministry of Education have also rendered the FPE programme meaningless for many Kenyans who need it.
It is common knowledge that many head teachers still collect all manner of levies from parents and send pupils away from school for having worn-out uniform, for example.
Ministry of Education officials, both in their Jogoo House ivory tower in Nairobi and county offices, know this is happening, but somehow tolerate it.
Memo to Jogoo House: you have no business closing informal schools if you can’t fix the rot in your public primary schools.
