One hundred and eighty students of St. Patrick’s Naitiri Boys High School in Tongaren Sub County are counting losses after two dormitories were razed down in an early Tuesday morning fire incident when they were in class during morning studies.
Confirming the incident, the school principal David Sikanga said the cause of the fire is yet to be established but they are suspecting an electric fault was the root cause. They called upon well-wishers to help them in this time of need.
He said property worth more than ten million shillings was destroyed saying it was fortunate that no student was hurt during the incident given that all of them were in class, adding that parents should be assured of their children’s safety.
Area MCA Bethuel Mwambu Fwamba said the incident has really affected the school saying under the management of the principal, the school was going in the right direction and they are optimistic of good results at the end of the year.
He called upon the government and other well-wishers to help the affected students have basic needs to restart their stay in school saying it will be unfortunate if they will have to be sent home saying it will be a derail in syllabus coverage.
Hon Mwambu further called upon the County government to purchase fire fighting equipment in every Sub County to enable them to deal with such calamities in future, saying currently, the County has one truck which cannot be able to reach all parts of the County in good time in case of a fire outbreak.
Bungoma County women representative Dr Reginalda Wanyonyi also called for well wishers to help the affected students as she donated one hundred and eighty blankets to them.
She said the school has been in existence for a very long period of time and its structures are old saying the government should consider having a general rehabilitation in the school to enable the students to learn in a conducive environment.
Tongaren CDF manager Sitati Nangalama on behalf of the area MP David Eseli Simiyu said they had allocated some money in the 2017/2018 financial year budget to the school to renovate buildings saying it will be done.
He further presented a donation of one hundred and eighty mattresses to the affected students as the Catholic parish of Naitiri also offered to accommodate the students in the church hall as they plan on their accommodation.