More dormitories have been torched in Narok County and property worth millions of shillings destroyed in the rising wave of school unrest in the county and the country.
In the first incident, Students of Ololulung`a Boys` Secondary School went on rampage and set ablaze a dormitory before marching out of the school early this morning.
Confirming the incident, Narok South Sub-County Police Commander Ms. Magdalene Chebet said the students set ablaze the dormitory popularly known as Mount Kenya at around 3:30 this morning and stormed out of the school after the incident.
The area Sub-county Deputy County Commissioner Mr. Felix Kisilu said the Fire brigade from the county government, teachers and some students managed to put off the fire and salvaged a few cubes that had not caught fire in a dormitory that houses 100 boys.
In another incident, property worth millions of shillings was destroyed when Form One to Three students of Olcheku Supat Secondary School in Narok West Sub- county went on rampage at about 10:00 last night and set ablaze two dormitories housing about 96 students and destroyed window glasses from the administration block.
Confirming the incident, Narok West sub county Education director Mr. Ochieng` Owambo said fire brigade from the county managed to put off the fire but it had extensively damaged the two dormitories.
He said the students then disappeared from the school and their whereabouts is unknown but all the Form Four students are in school.
Security and education stakeholders in the two sub-counties are meeting today to discuss the incidences and the way forward.
This comes hot on the heels of another incident where students of Kisiriri Mixed Secondary School in Narok North sub-county in the wee hours of last Friday morning staged a sit-in at the school protesting what they termed as high handedness on the part of the management of the school.
These incidences come less than two weeks after a fire destroyed part of a dormitory at Olmirani Boys` Secondary School in Narok West sub-county.
The new Narok County Director of Education Ms. Anne Njogu has once again declined to comment on the issue only saying investigations are underway into the matters concerned.
Schools in the country reopened on January 4 after a nine months period of closure where learners stayed at home as part of the measures to help contain the Coronavirus pandemic in the country. But the Grade Four learners under the new Competency Based Curriculum (CBC), Standard Eight) and Form Four candidates reopened in October last year after partial removal of Covid-19 restriction measures in the country.
But since schools reopened earlier this month, there has been a surge in cases of unrest in school with several schools being affected around the country. Experts have attributed this to the long stay at home which might have exposed many of the learners to situations that affected their discipline.
They say learners are finding it hard to adjust to the school routine after 10 months of being outside classroom and more needs to be done to nip this situation in the bud.
Education Cabinet Secretary Professor George Magoha has proposed re-introduction of the cane which was banned in schools several years ago, but this has been met by mixed reactions from stakeholders.
by Mabel Keya –Shikuku
