- The school management closed the school on November 10 citing lack of space to accommodate students who used the affected dorms.
- “The bills or quantities ere collected from elsewhere and the perpetrators even forgot to replace Sigalagala with the school name,” Munyendo said.
Image: HILTON OTENYO
Kakamega School students will stay home for close to two weeks before knowing whether they will return to school or not.
Justice William Musyoka on Tuesday set the ruling on submissions by parties for December 10.
A parent and children's lobby, Child Care Legal Aid Clinic, have sued the school over a Sh9,823 penalty on each student for damages caused by fire on two dormitories at the school on November 6.
The school management closed the school on November 10 citing lack of space to accommodate students who used the affected dorms.
The school through lawyer Henry Wasilwa asked the court to vacate the orders barring it from collecting the penalties from parents.
The school said the applicants had not exhausted the laid down statutory conditions before seeking court intervention.
The order should be vacated first and the matter of Sh9,823 be left to the school board of management.
“The court must engage in a balancing exercise. Opening the school without physical infrastructure will be dangerous to the learners in terms of safety and hygiene.
"The rights of free tuition must be balanced with safety and public health issues that may arise,” Wasilwa said.
He said the petition by Chicalac is about schools in the whole republic and has not put anything specific about Kakamega School.
But lawyer for parent Boaz Vida, Oscar Munyendo discredited the damage assessment report filed before court by the school terming it strange.
He said that sections of the report contain quotations for electrical wiring in a building at Sigalagala polytechnic.
“The bills of quantities were collected from elsewhere and the perpetrators even forgot to replace Sigalagala with the school name,” Munyendo said.
He said that the decision to close down the school was made in bad faith and learning should be allowed to resume at the institution.
Chicalac lawyer Kaira Nabasenge said the decision to close the school was arbitrary as parents and students were not involved.
He said that the students were being punished before being accorded a fair hearing.
“The children have a right to free and compulsory basic education. The 2021 guidelines require that any fees chargeable must be approved by the Ministry of Education.
"This being an accident, the school BOM has no authority to levy the charge without consulting the parents,” he said.
He said there were no grounds laid before court to vacate the orders.
The lawyer added that it was unfair for the school to lock out students when they had already invited them back, only to change minds after receiving the orders.
Nabasenge wondered why the management insisted on lack of space to close the school yet the same management had invited the students back even before repairs on the damaged dorms.
“They are already punishing the students before even establishing whether they were involved in the fire or not. It is unconstitutional,” he said.
Chicalac is also seeking a pronouncement on how schools should charge fees or damages in the case of accidents.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)