KISUMU, Kenya, Aug 21- The Ministry of Education has called for speedy investigations to unearth the cause of a fire that razed down three dormitories and four classrooms at Kisumu Boys High School.
Property of unknown value was destroyed in the Saturday morning inferno which has displaced 250 students.
The fire started in one of the dormitories when the students were in class and quickly spread to the entwined classrooms and adjacent dormitories.
Basic Education Principal Secretary (PS) Julius Jwan said various State agencies have been deployed to establish the cause of the fire.
The PS said the teams would also come up with a detailed report on the extent of damage as various stakeholders move in to partner with the school to restore normalcy.
Speaking at the school on Saturday, the PS said the report would assist the ministry come up with a way forward on fixing the destroyed infrastructure.
“The ministry will only come in after we have established the cause of the fire. The Kenya Power and Ministry of Housing teams have asked for time to conclude the investigations,” he said.
“I have said this before that the government cannot allocate funds to rebuild the infrastructure if for example it is found that the fire was started by the students,” he added.
He said all the 1,652 out of 2,300 students who reported back to the school on Friday after the half-term break were safe since nobody was injured in the inferno.
The school management, he said, has resolved not to send the students back home adding that the Kenya Red Cross has offered to deliver twenty tents to help manage the situation.
Ten of the tents, said the PS, would be used as classrooms while the others shall be converted into temporary dormitories.
“The school has liaised with their contractors and suppliers who have promised to donate mattresses and beddings for the affected students,” he said.
He asked parents to remain calm adding that the school would communicate to them on the way forward.
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