On Sunday, September 1, 2024, police arrested two second-year students from Nyayo Girls Secondary School in Kalama, Machakos County, following a fire outbreak at the school.
The fire, which broke out at around 8:30 p.m., completely destroyed two dormitories. Authorities arrived at the school shortly after the incident to begin their investigation into the cause of the fire.
The two girls were taken into custody and spent the night at Konza Police Station.
Despite an ongoing teachers’ strike, 324 out of the 526 students were present at the school during the incident. According to police reports, nothing could be salvaged from the fire, which gutted the dormitories that housed 146 students.
Fortunately, no students were injured as they were in their classrooms for evening study sessions at the time of the fire.
In a separate incident in Makueni County, another dormitory was reported to have been destroyed by fire at Makindu Girls High School on the same night. This dormitory accommodated 55 students and was also lost to a fire linked to student unrest.
