Police in Mwala, Machakos county, are investigating a suspected arson incident at Makutano Boys High School.
The police swung into action after fire razed a dormitory at the institution early Tuesday.
Police said the fire broke out at about 8 am while students were in their classrooms.
The inferno razed a dormitory with students losing their personal effects, including clothes, boxes, bedding, books, and utensils, to the fire. However, no student was injured during the incident.
The school is located in Makutano, Masii Division in the Mwala subcounty.
The matter was reported to Masii police station as a fire incident report shortly after it happened.
Police officers from the station responded to the scene and joined in, putting out the fire alongside a fire brigade from Machakos County Government.
Several boys were later detained and quizzed about the incident at Masii and Mwala police stations.
About seven students were being probed by senior police officers when the Star visited the Masii police station on Tuesday evening.
A Directorate of Criminal Investigation detective attached to the station, divulged that the students were being grilled to help identify those who torched the dormitory.
“None of the students have been arrested so far. Several of them are currently being quizzed by our colleagues here and at Mwala police station with the intent of getting the exact culprits,” the DCI detective said.
He said they had earlier processed the scene and extracted relevant samples, which they sent to their laboratory for forensic examinations.
“We have already commenced the investigations and will make arrests once we get results on the forensics,” the officer said.
An official said a review of CCTV cameras showed that electricity went off at exactly 7.30 am, 30 minutes before the dormitory went up in flames.
He said some of the questions they were grappling to find answers to are; Who started the fire? Who switched the lights off? How did the culprit(s) access the dormitory after it was closed and students went to classrooms? How come the school administration never detected a plan to torch the school at 8 am?
The official said it was worrying that Machakos had emerged among counties leading in school fire incidents.
He said there were high indications that the fire was a result of arson.
Mwala deputy county commissioner David Tegutwa presided over a consultative meeting among student leaders from 71 secondary schools within the subcounty, their teachers, and Ministry of Education and TSC officials from both Machakos County and Mwala subcounty levels.
The daylong meeting was held at Masii Boys High School on Tuesday.
Tegutwa said the meeting was intended to enable the students to be part of the solution to security challenges faced in schools within the subcounty, including rampant school fire incidents.
He noted that academic levels had been compromised in most schools in the subcounty, hence the importance of the meeting.
“We only hear of Makutano AIC, St Camel, Mwala Girls and Kabaa High schools shining in the KCSE examinations, yet we have 71 secondary schools in the subcounty," Tegutwa told the Star on the sidelines of the meeting at Masii Boys High School on Tuesday.
"We have been engaging with other stakeholders in the quest of finding a solution to the challenge. There is a need to engage the students themselves."
“Even on the issue of school fires, we want to see students as solutions, not enemies, hence the interactive session where we advise as they raise their issues of concern."
Tegutwa said 210 student leaders attended and participated in the meeting.
He advised students to focus on their education and protect school property for prosperity.
“Students need to protect and secure school infrastructure for their own benefits and future generations. They need to work hard for academic excellence,” Tegutwa said.
Tegutwa said the government was doing the best it could in school infrastructural development in the subcounty and across the country.
“We, as a subcounty, want to get the best in terms of results with the resources we have,” Tegutwa said.
