- When reached out for a comment on the same, Manoo didn't pick up the call. He however responded through a text message "I will call back."
- The learners were released to go home even as the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) intensified their national strike.
Image: GEORGE OWITI
The Machakos Boys High School commonly known as Machakos School has been closed indefinitely due to reported students’ unrest.
The school principal Benson Manoo effected the closure early Monday following the unrest among students that lasted the whole of Sunday night.
When reached out for a comment on the same, Manoo didn't pick up the call.
He however responded through a text message "I will call back."
The learners were released to go home even as the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) intensified their national strike.
Tension was on Sunday night reported at Machakos High School as students demanded to be released to go home.
“Ni kubaya, they want to go home. They are being addressed at the assembly,” a teacher at the school said.
The tutor at the school said the agitated students had been told to return to their dormitories.
There were claims that some of the tutors residing within the school compound and who had responded to calm the students scampered for safety after the learners reportedly became violent.
Several other public secondary schools across the county had earlier on Sunday night been closed indefinitely due to students’ unrest.
Mitaboni ABC Girls in Kathiani subcounty is among the schools that were closed on Sunday night.
Other schools that have so far closed down on Monday include Masii Girls, Matungulu ABC and Mtituni SA secondary schools.
Two girls' schools were razed down in Machakos and Makueni counties on the night.
Two dormitories were burnt down at Nyayo Girls secondary school in Kalama subcounty at about 8.25 pm leaving 146 girls with nowhere to sleep.
They spent their night in classrooms as two Form 2 girls got arrested for suspected arson.
Elsewhere in the neighbouring Makueni, a dormitory was razed at Makindu Girls High School on the same night.
Police said the dormitory which accommodated 55 students went down in flames following students’ unrest in the institution.
Kuppet, Machakos branch secretary general Musembi Katuku confirmed the schools’ closure, stating that several schools would be sending students back home today.
“No teaching is going on in these schools because there are no teachers,” Katuku told the Star on Sunday evening.
Kuppet officials early Sunday held a National Governing Council meeting and declared that their nationwide strike is still on.
They maintained that no teaching would go on in all the schools across the country, urging parents to go pick up their children from their respective schools.
“That the schools are not running and they are not going to run. For the next week and even beyond, the teachers will remain at home,” Kuppet secretary general Akelo Misori said.
The first week of the third school term has been rocked by demonstrations in various parts of the country as teachers affiliated with Kuppet agitated for their grievances with the Teachers Service Commission.
The incidents come days after some Kuppet members stormed several schools within the county to reportedly eject teachers suspected to have been working as their colleagues continued with the protests.
The Kuppet members have vowed to completely paralyze learning in all schools across the country until the governments heed their demands.