Chaos increase as remedy appears elusive

What you need to know:

  • The fire at Masii Boys saw Simba dormitory which housed 84 students destroyed as students were taking their supper.
  • At Isebania High School, students took several hours to put out fire that began at 8am in the morning.
  • Last week, a dormitory at Awendo Excellent Secondary school was burnt in the morning in mysterious circumstances.

More schools continued to go up in flames as the wave of school unrests continued to hit the country with the government grappling with the cause and solution to the crisis that has seen 120 cases in the last 18 months.

Masii Boys High School in Machakos County and Isebania High School in Migori County are the latest to be hit by the unrest that saw dormitories burnt down.

The fire at Masii Boys saw Simba dormitory which housed 84 students destroyed as students were taking their supper.

Beds, bedding and students’ personal items of unknown value were destroyed in the inferno before the county fire brigade arrived to put out the fire.

Mwala police boss Henry Kimathi said Police were investigating the incident in order to ensure those responsible were arrested and charged.

“Nobody was injured but we have commenced investigations and we will soon get the culprits,” said Mr Kimathi.

At Isebania High School, students took several hours to put out fire that began at 8am in the morning.

DORMITORY BURNT THREE TIMES

According to the principal Thomas Rungu, the students were already in their classes when the fire broke out.

This particular dormitory has been burnt three times in the past 10 years.

A few mattresses and books were salvaged although most of the bedding and other personal effects were reduced to ashes.

Migori County police boss David Kirui said they had launched investigations to establish if it was a case of arson or an electrical fault.

Last week, a dormitory at Awendo Excellent Secondary school was burnt in the morning in mysterious circumstances.

On Friday, while addressing principals of national schools in Nairobi, Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i said that there had been 120 cases of reported cases of students’ unrests in the last 18 months.

Dr Matiang’i said that 92 cases happened in 2015, while 28 cases had occurred in the last six months, majority in secondary schools.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph  Nkaissery, who also addressed the school heads, said urgent measures ought to be made to establish the causes of the problem.