Chania Boys school management has indefinitely closed down the institution and released the students following massive destruction of property in a Monday morning fire.
During our visit to one of the best performing schools in Thika, Kiambu County, we found the students queuing to receive their leave out permission letters whose particulars did not indicate the date they would resume learning.
The students had spent the night in the cold after two of their main dormitories went up in flames. The students are suspected to have burnt down the dormitories so that they could be allowed to go home.
One of the dormitories is said to have been gutted by the raging fire beyond repair and will be required to be constructed afresh.
The fire is said to have started at around 2:00 am spread burned down items worth millions.
Following the incident, parents are said to have asked the institution to release their children to go home as investigations into the incident continue.
Students who spoke to reporters off-camera said that the properties would have been rescued if their principal swiftly acted on the incident.
The students claimed the fire began at 2 am but the principal called the fire department from Kiambu County which is less than a kilometre away an hour later.
“The school management wanted us to handle the matter in-house but the fire was spreading quite fast. After it caught the second dormitory, that is when they started requesting help from firefighters,” one of the school prefects who sought anonymity said.
By the time of going to press, school principals from Thika West Sub-County were held up in a meeting with the local administration to find solutions to the growing unrest in schools in the area.
