Thousands of mourners stood before rows of small white coffins on Thursday during the memorial service for 21 children who died in a boarding school fire in central Kenya earlier this September.
The coffins were decorated with bouquets of flowers and photographs of the young boys from Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri town, most of who were between 9 and 13 yrs, and met their untimely deaths rapped in their dormitory.
Kenya has an unfortunate history of school fires. In 2018, there were over 60 cases of arson in public secondary schools going by the most recent data in a parliamentary report.
Currently, it is not yet known what caused the fire at Hillside Endarasha Academy, but researchers have said that many similar fires have been set by students who were protesting harsh discipline and poor conditions.
Consequently, in 2017, ten girls lost their lives in a high-profile fire at a school dormitory in Nairobi. For this incident, a teenage student was charged with manslaughter for committing arson.
