Alliance High Fire Probe Deepens as 10 Students Arrested Over Incident

Hinzugefügt: 2026-06-04

[00:00:00]Moving on as schools unrest spreads across the country, 10 students from Alliance High School have been arrested over a fire that destroyed the school store. The incident adds to growing concerns over student safety. While education stakeholders are calling for a nationwide mid-term break to ease tension and prevent further incidents, the government insists learning remains largely uninterrupted and has ruled out a blanket closure of schools as Anne Mbuthungu now details.

[00:00:31]>> The wave of unrest has reached one of the country's most prestigious institutions, a school long regarded as the ultimate dream and a symbol of academic excellence, the Alliance High School.

[00:00:45]10 students have been arrested from the school after a fire raised a store containing old mattresses on Wednesday night. The incident came amid reports of growing student unrest triggering an emergency meeting between board of management, parents representative, and the Ministry of Education officials. The meeting resolved to temporarily close the school and send students home as investigations into the fire continue.

[00:01:10]The school principal, David Kamau, revealed that the fire incident was preceded by acts of indiscipline earlier in the day. One students tampered with electricity and lighting systems in four classrooms.

[00:01:21]>> Unfortunately, uh sometimes in the course of the night there two boys who were captured on camera on CCTV uh touching a store that uh was housing some old mattresses.

[00:01:34]>> The incident has alarmed parents, many of whom are demanding answers over growing cases of unrest in schools.

[00:01:41]>> I can suspect a sabotage from maybe an outside force.

[00:01:44]>> Pressure is mounting on the Ministry of Education to act. A lobby group, Baraza la Taifa, wants schools closed while Kiharu MP, Ndindi Nyoro, says there's need to re-look at the country's values.

[00:01:57]>> It is time we recalibrate our national values.

[00:02:01]Whatever we are seeing in our schools is communicating something about the values that we have as Kenyans.

[00:02:10]And right from school it is important to avoid the kind of things that are happening even as we do remedial measures to curb them.

[00:02:20]>> Despite the mounting calls, the government has dismissed the possibility of any early school closure. Speaking during a prize-giving ceremony at Kenya High School, Basic Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok said learning remains stable nationwide.

[00:02:35]>> School calendar remains unchanged, and we are not going to change the school calendar. Half term will be on 24th as earlier communicated.

[00:02:43]>> Several schools have already sent students home, while others have tightened surveillance and restricted movement within schools. From prestigious national schools to county institutions, the list of affected schools continue to grow. Anne Mumbi KTN, Nairobi.

[00:03:03]>> Well, that story by Anne Mumbi