Tambach Secondary School in Keiyo North Subcounty in Elgeyo Marakwet has been closed indefinitely after students went on the rampage, breaking window panes of their classes and dormitories.
The students later walked to Iten county headquarters to seek audience with the Ministry of Education officials to present their grievances.
According to the subcounty education director Alice Sitienei, the students were saying that they were not ready for the ongoing end-of-term exams and that they needed to go home because other schools had already closed.
Sitienei said efforts by the ministry to take the students back to school were fruitless as they insisted they wanted to go home.
“We fueled the school bus all the way from the school to Iten to take them back to school, but they refused, insisting that they wanted to go home,” she said.
The director regretted the action by the students, saying the issues they were raising didn’t warrant the protest and closure of the school, as they would have been handled internally, and school activities allowed to go on.
She said the school will remain closed awaiting consultations between the school and the parents on when it will reopen.
The Director appealed to parents to guide and advise their children, noting that the disruptions to the school calendar were too costly, especially now when form four candidates were being prepared for the national exams.
Sitienei said with corporal punishment having been banned in schools, teachers can only offer guidance and counselling, where the input of the parent is key.
This comes barely a week after students of St. Patrick’s High School Iten, went on strike, also complaining that they were not ready for the exams.
