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By DA Jawo
The tragedy that stroke Bilal Boarding School in Yundum which led to the death of at least five young students and injury to several others in a fire accident, should be a wake up call for our education authorities.
It shows that they should pay much more attention to the numerous boarding schools, particularly madrasas springing all over the place. They should ensure that those institutions conform to certain minimum standards before they are given the go ahead to operate as boarding institutions.
All the relevant agencies including a proper environmental assessment and the Fire Service should be involved in ensuring that their facilities are safe to accommodate children.
However, it is a well known fact that hardly any due diligence is ever done before such institutions are given the authority to operate. All that their owners would do is to go round and lobby those people they know and they are given the authority to operate without going through the necessary safety checks.
