Hillside Endarasha Academy will be reopened on Wednesday
next week, a month after a dormitory fire at the school claimed the lives of 21
pupils.
The tragedy on the night of September 5 at the school located in Kieni constituency left over a dozen other pupils with injuries.
The cause of the fire is yet to be established.
Speaking at school on Thursday, Nyeri County Director of Education Jane Njogu said the school has been undergoing renovation and the repair works are nearing completion.
She said the initial plan was for studies to resume on Monday but the contracted masons advised against it saying they would still be doing final touches.
“They are moving very fast; they are working 24/7 – they have done a lot of constructions and reconstructions to ensure that the learners are comfortable when they come back to school,” Njogu said.
The education director said the decision to reopen the school followed clearance by quality assurance officers from the Ministry of Education who gave the school’s safety standards a clean bill of health.
“Though we had decided that the school reopens on Monday, the fundis (masons) are convinced that by Wednesday, they will be through. So we have settled on Wednesday so even if they complete before Wednesday, the school will take time to reorganize themselves,” she added.
Njogu said parents at the school were getting anxious about the reopening of the school considering end-year assessments were currently underway.
“When they started asking questions, we decided to come here and reassure them that all was well. We’ve been sending teams to come and do assessments and we’ve looked at their recommendations against a checklist and we realized that the school is in top gear,” she said.
Njogu said the school reopening is in good time for candidates waiting to sit their KAPSEA to prepare well in advance.
“Those that are sitting assessments will just go on because the Knec portal is already open.”
The Ministry of Education said the school has a population of 824 pupils—402 boys and 422 girls.
It said the 156-capacity dormitory that caught fire had 152 boys on the night of the inferno.