History of School Fires in Kenya: Government’s Failure to Learn from Past Tragedies.
The tragic Hillside Endarasha Academy dormitory fire has shocked the nation and raised concerns about the safety of children attending boarding schools, as well as recollections of other school disasters that claimed lives.
Despite the Ministry of Education’s 2008 release of a safety standards document, it seems that requests to ensure compliance only arise during catastrophic events.
In 2017, a dormitory fire at Moi Girls High School claimed the lives of ten girls. Five years later, a jury found the 14-year-old pupil guilty of manslaughter and sentenced him to five years in prison.
In August 2012, eight girls perished in an electrical fault-related dormitory fire at Asumbi Girls Primary School.
They grilled the windows and sealed the doors from the outside, making it impossible for the girls, completely burned, to escape. There was also no emergency exit.
In 2010, a dormitory fire at Nyeri’s Endarasha Boys High School claimed the lives of two boys. Eleven other boys started the fire. Two charges of murder led to the eventual release of fourteen suspects, including a businessman, from custody after a ten-year legal process.
In 1999, at Nyeri High School, a group of students confined four prefect guys in their dormitory while they slept, doused it with gasoline, and set it on fire, resulting in their deaths. Later on, they discovered that the boys on suspension were on a mission of vengeance.
In 2001, the deadliest school fire tragedy claimed the lives of 67 students at Kyanguli Secondary School when two irate 16-year-old boys doused the dormitory in gasoline and set it on fire. About one hundred boys, ages fifteen to nineteen, shared a dormitory.
That occurred just three years after the Bombolulu Girls Secondary School dormitory fire claimed the lives of 26 girls in 1998. The girls perished in an overcrowded 130-person dormitory.
The dormitory lacked a fire extinguisher, barred ten of its windows, and locked one of its doors from the outside. When they attempted to flee through two small doors, a stampede claimed the lives of some of the girls.
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Events lead to the prosecution of individuals convicted of arson, murder, or manslaughter, yet there’s hardly any mention of actions taken against school principals or Ministry of Education representatives who should have ensured adherence to the safety measures outlined in the 2008 safety standards manual.
However, as past events have shown, the government has expressed sympathy for each death since the 1998 Bombolulu fire, but it has said nothing about the Ministry of Education‘s or school administrations’ duty to ensure adherence to a 2008 safety guideline.
History of School Fires in Kenya: Government’s Failure to Learn from Past Tragedies.
