Mama Ngina Girls Secondary School has been closed indefinitely after an attempted arson by the students at around 5am on Wednesday.
Mombasa county director of education Peter Magiri said the fire broke out in one of the ablution blocks when the girls were preparing for the morning studies.
He said all the girls, about 1,000 of them, have been sent home as they launch investigations into the incident.
“We have released the girls to go home due to the tension that is here after they attempted to burn a store in the ablution block. The decision was made after consultation with the school’s board,” Magiri said.
However, Magiri said there was no extensive damage at the school because the fire was noticed early and was put out.
He said when a school is closed by the board, fresh admissions are done, a decision which is made by the board.
“We are not sure when the girls will be allowed to come back, because there are terms and conditions made by the board, which they will have to follow before being re-admitted,” he said.
Parents have been blamed for creating anxiety among the girls by making frequent phone calls to the school to release the girls.
“Parents have been calling asking about incidents that might have happened at the school. This has caused anxiety among the girls,” the county education boss said.
However, parents have raised concern over not being communicated to when the incident happened.
Amina Bakari, a parent of a Form 1 student and a guardian of another in Form 3, said she got the information from a relative and immediately posted on the school parents WhatsApp group, but there was no communication from the school.
“As a learning institution, the school management is the custodian of our children so they need to communicate whenever there is a problem,” she said.
Bakari said Covid-19 affected learning and this is the right time for students to be in school because they are behind the syllabus.
“There is no parent who would want to pay school fees and her child leaves school before the end of the term. The teachers are also straining to fit in what they lost during the pandemic, so if this is the situation and there is no communication, it is a bad thing, we need proper and official communication,” she said.
Amadi Hassan, another parent, said they are still not aware of what happened and there is no communication from the school.
“We have not received any clear information on what transpired, personally my girl fainted after the incident. We are urging the school principal to talk to us so that we can find a way of helping each other,” he said.
Mama Ngina is the only girls' national secondary school in Mombasa county. This is the first school unrest incident to be reported in the county.
Edited by SKanyara
