Property of unknown value was destroyed Saturday night after candidates at Kenyoro Mixed Secondary in Marani, Kisii County went on strike.
Window panes and doors at the school were shattered during the incident. Equipment at the school laboratory was also damaged during the two-hour-long riots caused by drunken youth.
At least 100 boys suspected of participating in the strike fled from the school compound into the nearby maize farms when the government deployed anti-riot police. By Sunday morning they were yet to return to the school, police said.
Guards at the school said about 14 boys found smoking bhang at night in the playing ground may have instigated the violence. A teacher at the school said the students were in their classes for preps when they suddenly walked out and begun venting their anger on the school property.
He said the guards had stumbled on the boys smoking marijuana and it is after they confronted them that they turned unruly and begun throwing stones while chanting war songs. All along, he said, the students have been peaceful and they are yet to determine the motive behind the riots.
The riot forced police in riot gear to fire in the air to contain the situation said County Police Commander Martin Kibet, “No arrests have been made but we have launched investigations into the incident.”
He commended the female students for remaining calm indoors and not joining others to cause mayhem. He, however, warned that action will be taken on the culprits once investigations find them culpable. The school currently has a population of 128 boys and 92 girls.
Elsewhere, at least 16 candidates at Ramasha Milimani Academy at Kiogoro area in Nyaribari Chache are still missing from the exam room days after Education CS George Magogha visited the school.
Education officials said they suspect the lot was part of the ghost candidates hired to do examinations on behalf of other candidates who had registered to sit the national examinations.
At least 11 people among them the school’s two teachers have since been arrested and arraigned in court on charges of cheating in the ongoing exams.
This article was first published by Capital News.
