Dorms in five Kilifi schools burnt by students

Five dormitories were on Tuesday burnt in five secondary schools in Kilifi County in a night of destruction that has plunged education in the area into uncertainty.

In what appeared to be a well-calculated and coordinated plan, three dormitories were burnt to ashes while two were partly consumed by the fire and some property saved.

The affected schools include Chumani Secondary School, Dzitsoni Secondary School and Lutsangani Secondary Schools. A dormitory in each of these three schools was completely burnt down.

According to Kilifi County Education Director Dickson ole Keis, an attempt to burn Jaribuni Boys Secondary School dormitory was thwarted by a watchman, but two beds and four mattresses were burnt.

At Chasimba, the attempt to set fire on the boys’ dormitory also failed but four beds were burnt.

The burning of the dormitories, in which property worth millions of shillings was destroyed in what looked like a well-arranged plan, has alarmed education officials and police in the county.

Kilifi police boss Joshua ole Leina said the first incident was reported at around 8pm at Dzitsoni Secondary School when a girls’ dormitory caught fire as the students were in preps.

The dormitory houses 110 girls. Half an hour later, the boys’ dormitory at Chumani caught fire.

“We suspect that these arson was well planned by the students and this forms the basis of our investigations. We want to get to the bottom of this problem and those who were involved in the evil acts arrested to face the full force of the law,” he said.

At Lutsangani, a boys’ dormitory housing 230 students was burnt in the wee hours of Wednesday morning.

Some students were going for breakfast in the dining hall when the dormitory suddenly caught fire and was razed to the ground.

The county education boss added that two schools had already been closed due to unrest by the students.

“We have Malindi High School and Vitengeni Girls’ High schools that were closed this week following unrest by the students. They had asked to leave the school or burn down everything,” said Mr Keis.

Reference : www.nation.co.ke