- MP Orero emphasized that any school seeking to be approved as a boarding institution must meet specific operational standards.
- The devastating fire that engulfed Hillside Endarasha Academy on Thursday night has claimed 21 lives and has left many heartbroken.
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Kibera Member of Parliament Peter Orero has called for enhanced safety regulations for boarding schools to prevent tragic incidents like the recent fire at Endarasha Hillside Academy in Nyeri county.
Orero emphasized that any school seeking to be approved as a boarding institution must meet specific operational standards.
The devastating fire that engulfed Hillside Endarasha Academy on Thursday night has claimed 21 lives and has left many heartbroken.
Initial reports indicate that the fire started in one of the dormitories, housing boys aged between 12 and 17 years.
In an interview with Citizen TV on Monday, Orero highlighted the need for essential safety measures, including the installation of fire extinguishers and ensuring that a housemaster or mister resides close to dormitories.
“ A fire extinguisher is mandatory, they are not that expensive,” Orero said.
Public schools should collaborate with the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) and the Ministry of Education to ensure they are well-equipped with firefighting tools and receive first-aid training to avoid similar cases in the future.
“School directors should ideally have teaching experience and relevant training in educational management."
"You realise some of the directors of private schools are not teachers, they have not done psychology, sociology, or philosophy. How do you manage a school if you were never a teacher?” Orero questioned.
Out of the total 156 boys in the dormitory at the time, 139 had now been accounted for, either at home or in the hospital. A total of 19 bodies had been recovered at the site, and the other two died in hospital, raising the number to 21.
The hospital's medical superintendent, Charles Ndirangu, confirmed that about 70 pupils had undergone a medical checkup at the facility and that one was admitted for further observation while the rest were discharged.
"None of the pupils we observed had burns. They underwent counselling and other medical tests and were discharged," he said.
The cause of the inferno has not been established, but the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, homicide investigators, and forensic experts are at the school.