Fire destroys property worth Sh12m at Koyonzo School  

Property estimated at Sh12 million was reduced to ashes after fire broke out at Koyonzo Boys Secondary School in Matungu, Kakamega County, on Saturday morning.

The school’s Board of Management chairman Francis Namuswa said the 1am inferno destroyed a room where assorted items belonging to students, who are at home for the long holiday, were kept.

“Besides the students' property, we also lost a school generator and grains in the Saturday morning inferno,” said Mr Namuswa. 

He said that despite the fire incident, all the 250 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exam candidates are focused on completing the examinations.    

STRICT SUPERVISION

The fire incident comes a week after Form Four students complained of strict supervision of the ongoing KCSE exams.

They demanded that the school deputy principal manages the centre, a move that forced county education officials to ban the deputy head teacher from accessing the institution until the exams are completed.

Matungu OCPD Alex Ndili confirmed that bedding and reading materials belonging to the students and school grains in the store were reduced to ashes.

He said the police were interrogating seven students in connection to the fire incident.   

EXAM IRREGULARITIES

“Seven students are helping us with investigations, they will be released to go and prepare for their next exam papers,” Mr Ndili said.

The cause of the fire was not immediately established.

Koyonzo has had a history of exam irregularities that saw results of all KCSE candidates cancelled in 2013.

In 2018, five teachers were arraigned for abetting cheating in the national exams.

The change in the school administration may spark outrage from the students who were used to getting assistance during exams.