Fire razes down dormitory at St Patricks High School Iten

A dormitory at St Patrick’s High School Iten has been razed down by fire in the latest case of arson in Kenya’s secondary schools.

The dormitory at the school, which is managed by the Catholic Church, caught fire Tuesday night with fire fighters making attempts to put out the fire.

Two dormitories at Giakaibei School in Nyeri County were also torched Tuesday night with a dormitory at St Stephen Secondary School, Nkoitoi in Narok County also being set ablaze.

One dormitory at Merti Girls High School in Isiolo was also burnt down.

No one was injured in the incidents.

Education stakeholders have raised concerns over the increased cases of arson in secondary schools this term with Kenya Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary General Wilson Sossion calling for the temporary closure of schools to give stakeholders and the government time to sort out the pressing issues that can be attributed to the unrest in schools.

Sossion has blamed Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i for the unrest in schools which he has termed as the students’ way of fighting back against the CS’s radical reforms in the education sector which include extension of the second term.

Matiang’i has however remained adamant that the schools will remain open saying parents will foot the cost of repairing destroyed school property.

The incident comes just hours after a Nairobi court remanded 13 students from Lang’ata High School for five days to give police time to investigate a fire incident at the school on Sunday.

The incident left six students injured with property of unknown worth destroyed.

The dormitory accommodated 200 students.

@benjaminwafula