Kilgoris Boys High School was on Monday closed indefinitely after a fire suspected to have been started by students destroyed a dormitory.
School principal Philip ole Limpaso said trouble started on Sunday after water was disconnected over power problems.
"On Sunday, we had a water shortage problem brought about by transformer complications. We talked to Kenya Power and they promised to intervene," he said.
"We gave this feedback to our students and urged them to maintain calm as the issue was being resolved. They seemed to have been convinced by our efforts to resolve the issue. We later came to learn that wasn't the case as at around 11pm, they attempted to torch the school dining hall and one of the classrooms."
Limpaso said the students’ efforts were thwarted as the fire was put out before it destroyed the facilities. The Transmara West subcounty security team was called in to restore order.
However, the rioting students managed to burn one of the school dormitories at 6am on Monday.
Efforts by the school administration and the security team to put out the fire failed.
Transmara West subcounty director of education Chrispine Omondi said the school had been closed indefinitely to allow time for investigations.
This is even as unconfirmed reports indicated that close to 10 students were being held by police over the incident.
