Property worth Sh4 million at Moi Girls Sindo Secondary School in Suba was on Saturday evening destroyed in a fire.
Bedding, students’ clothes, books and other items were razed. Nobody was injured in the fire that started as students were in class for weekend and private studies.
School principal Roselyn Akoth said 188 students lost their property.
“The dormitory accommodated
many students. It was therefore partitioned into two to house 188 students,” she said.
Akoth said the students affected share beds with others while some are temporarily accommodated in the dining hall.
The principal appealed to well-wishers to intervene.
She condemned the incident, saying it is a setback for the school, whose population is very high. “The tragedy has come at a time when the school is struggling to accommodate so many students,” Akoth said.
Villagers Bob Omedo and Onyango Ouma said they rushed into the school to help extinguish the fire to prevent more property from being destroyed.
“However, we only managedto salvage a few items,” Omedo said.
Homa Bay police commander John Omusanga said the cause of the fire is yet to be established but investigations are underway.
“Appropriate action will be taken against whoever is behind the fire,” he said.
During the incident, 22 students fainted after realising how much property they had lost.
Another dormitory was burnt down at Magina Girls’ Secondary School in Ndhiwa last week.
On August 3, Kerongorori Secondary School in Bomachoge Borabu constituency, Kisii, was burnt down.
County Education Board chairman Henry Onderi confirmed the incident but said the cause of the fire was unknown.
In July, Education CS Fred Matiang’i said weak leadership in the majority of county schools is the cause of student unrest. He was responding to the increased cases of dormitory fires in many schools across the country.
Matiang’i
said of the schools that have witnessed unrest, 90 per cent are extra-county and county schools.