Stephjoy High School shut as five girls vanish
A private secondary school in Kikuyu has been closed indefinitely after five dormitories were burnt down Saturday night.
This came as in the wake of reports that five girls disappeared last week.
The management of Stephjoy High School in Sigona, Kiambu County, has sought to de-link the fire from the disappearance of the girls.
The students are said to have burnt the dormitories to protest the mysterious disappearance of their colleagues.
TELEVISION STATION
However, the missing girls resurfaced at a local television station on Sunday.
Sources said they claimed they left school because of mistreatment.
However, they did not go to their respective homes for fear their parents would punish them. They claimed they had been sleeping in the streets.
Two girls, both in Form Two, disappeared on Sunday together with their three Form Three colleagues.
The school board chairman David Gitehi dismissed claims that the dormitory fires were connected to the disappearance of the students and said investigations were on to establish their actual cause.
Mr Gitehi said the fire broke out in one of the dormitories above the administration block at around midnight and spread to the other four hostels and the library.
“We cannot tell what caused the fire, we’ve left it to the police to investigate. We’ve also reported disappearance of our students. We cannot also say our students burnt the dormitories,” said Mr Gitehi.
Nothing was salvaged as the fire spread fast due to strong winds. Eleven students sustained minor injuries.