Nakuru High School has been shut down after students went on a rampage Sunday night.
Reports say the students started rioting some minutes before 9 pm and caused fracas way past midnight before police and Nakuru County Director of Education intervened and managed to restore calm.
The students were reportedly angered by a decision to scrap mid-morning tea and the introduction of black tea for breakfast.
They were also opposed to the introduction of a card payment system for items purchased at the school canteen and wanted to continue paying with cash.
Separate reports said the students were also advocating for upgraded entertainment facilities.
Police said the riot destroyed school property resulting in a loss of unknown value.
Destroyed infrastructure includes classrooms, dormitories and the administration block.
The school management decided to send the boys home on Monday at 8 am after holding a meeting to discuss the unrest.
Student unrest in Kenyan schools is often attributed to a combination of factors including poor communication between students and the administration.
Various research findings have also attributed student unrest to examination anxiety, peer pressure, poor teacher-student interaction, harsh punishment and a lack of fair disciplinary procedure.
Inadequate guidance and counselling, strict school rules, high handedness, denied opportunity to participate in decision making and sometimes, perceived unfair treatment by teachers or school leadership can contribute to unrest and potential disruptive behaviour to win the attention of relevant authorities.
Research published by the University of Nairobi recommended that the Ministry of Education should organise annual training for secondary school prefects on managing fellow students in schools as a way of averting student unrest.
It also recommended that heads of association organise regular meetings for peer learning where school principals share experiences on how they manage student discipline in their respective schools such as establishing discipline committees and holding motivational talks.
