The incident comes four months after a government led taskforce recommended drastic measures to ensure the safety of students in schools/FRANCIS MBATHA
NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 4 – DNA examinations will on Monday be conducted on the eight students who perished during a fire at the Moi Girls School in Nairobi to help in identifying them.
The parents of the girls have been requested to go to Chiromo Mortuary to assist in the process as all the bodies had been badly burnt.
Police said the cause of the fire is yet to be known but they suspect arson and the school, which has an estimated 1,183 students, has been closed for two weeks to facilitate investigations.
During the incident, more than 50 students were injured with two having over 50 percent burns.
The incident comes four months after a government led taskforce recommended drastic measures to ensure the safety of students in schools but whose implementation still remains unclear.
The report on unrest in learning institutions last year that was released in May pointed out that dormitories in most schools had no emergency exits or had blocked emergency.
It also observed only a few schools had fire-fighting equipment.
The report that was compiled by a special investigation team which was led by former provincial administrator Claire Omollo and had recommended that the Ministry of Education establish a monitoring and evaluation section to enforce compliance with policies and ensure accountability by school management within six months.
The report pointed out that most schools did not have the necessary safety policy.
It also raised concerns over narrow doors that compromised the safety of students.
It was also reported that some dormitories were sometimes locked from outside when students were asleep to deter them from sneaking out of the school compounds at night.
According to the safety standards manual details, dormitories should have double doors, opening outwards and windows must be without grills.
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