MP Orero: No school should get boarding status without fire extinguishers, matrons near dorms

Speaking on Monday, Orero stated that installing fire extinguishers and having patron residences close to dormitories should be among the mandatory requirements for any institution to acquire a 'boarding school' status.

Orero argued that meeting this criteria will help avert deadly fire incidents that have been taking the lives of learners including the most recent case at Endarasha Hillside Academy school in Nyeri County which has taken 21 lives.

"These basic requirements should be the items that a boarding school must have before it is approved. A fire extinguisher is mandatory they are not that expensive," said Orero speaking to Citizen TV.

"We must ensure that each dorm must have a housemaster or mistress who stays with these kids next to the dorm. We have schools where even teachers do not stay near the school. Even the boarding mistress does not have a house there."

The legislator questioned why private investors are allowed to erect learning institutions without any teaching experience.

Orero argued that learning institutions should be managed and run by individuals who have undergone training on how to run a learning institution, and most preferably if they are teachers.

"You realise that some of the directors of private schools are not teachers they have not done psychology, sociology, philosophy, [and] management. How do you manage a school and you were never a teacher," noted Orero.

MP Peter Orero: All boarding schools must be equipped with fire extinguishers, and there should be matrons available to sleep in the dormitories with the children in case of a fire #CitizenDayBreak @AyubAbdikadir pic.twitter.com/B8WigdMFhk

Appearing in the same interview, Dagoretti North Member of Parliament (MP) Beatrice Elachi opined that boarding should be scrapped from all primary schools.

She said that young learners should be enrolled in day schools until they are of mature age, arguing that sending them to boarding institutions poses a high risk to their safety. 

"Let parents take care of their children in primary school as they move to highschool," she said. 

"These children (Endarasha victims) were choked by the smoke and because they are babies their respiratory (system) is very fragile that is why many went."

Citizen TV has obtained information that the deadly fire could have been a result of an electrical fault.

In an interview with one of the parents whose son survived the tragedy and who requested anonymity, it all started near the main entrance where pupils from Grades 5 to 8 are accommodated.

The parent spoke about how sparks from a bulb near the main door of the dormitory could have caused the fire.

Reports indicate that the matron and a security guard who rushed to the scene alerted teachers who live within the school compound, who helped to evacuate the pupils as the fire consumed the dormitory.

According to her, the fire started at the first bed next to the main entrance, occupied by a Grade 5 pupil who survived.

Government spokesman Isaac Mwaura said a total of 19 bodies had been recovered at the site and another two died in hospital.

Out of the total 156 boys in the dorm at the time, 139 had now been accounted for, either at home or in hospital, he said.

DNA testing is to begin in today, Monday September 9, to help identify the boys who lost their lives in the deadly blaze last as President William Ruto has declared three days of mourning for the 21 young victims

Meanwhile the Director of Public Prosecutions Renson Ingonga has instructed police to conduct a comprehensive investigation to determine the circumstances that led to the fire.