OPINION: Our Children Are Dying in School Dormitories and Nobody Is Ever Punished

By Luchetu Likaka

Fires in schools continue to claim innocent lives in Kenya’s boarding institutions, exposing a painful pattern of negligence, corruption, and systemic failure that has persisted for decades.

School fires continue to claim innocent lives in Kenya’s boarding schools, exposing a painful pattern of negligence, corruption, and systemic failure that has persisted for decades.

Kenya is once again mourning the loss of innocent children following the tragic fire at Utumishi Girls Academy that has reportedly claimed at least ten young lives.

Ten dreams extinguished. Ten families shattered. Ten children sent to school for education and safety, only to return home in coffins.

These fires are not accidents, they reflect decades of negligence, corruption, regulatory failure and collective indifference that authorities have ignored for years.

Since 1991, more than 200 Kenyan children have died in school fires.

Yet not a single senior official, school proprietor, architect, engineer, regulator, or Ministry of Education officer has faced jail for negligence linked to these deaths.

Kenya has normalized impunity around deaths caused by fires in schools.

Every time a fire breaks out, leaders issue condolences, launch investigations, form commissions, and make promises.

Then the country moves on until another dormitory becomes a death chamber.

How many children must burn before the State acts decisively against preventable fires?

Also Read: OPINION: The Death Trap Our Schools Have Become

Fires in School Dormitories Linked to Designs and Overcrowding

School dormitories in Kenya have increasingly taken a prison-like design that endangers learners.

Many schools overcrowd students, reduce ventilation, install metallic grills, narrow exits, have faulty wiring systems and have locked doors.

In such conditions, when fires break out, panic quickly turns into a death trap.

We saw this horror in 2017 when ten girls died at Moi Girls School, Nairobi, after a dormitory fire linked to dangerous overcrowding.

Survivors described how they crawled over beds and classmates to escape the inferno. That tragedy should have triggered a nationwide safety overhaul in all boarding schools. It did not.

Fires Reveal Safety Failures

Again, in 2024, the country buried 21 boys following the Hillside Endarasha Academy fire tragedy. Families cried.

Leaders promised action. Yet the deeper systems that allow fires to spread in schools remained unchanged.

Schools kept operating. Regulators stayed in office. No meaningful accountability followed.

Now, the latest tragedy at Utumishi Girls Academy has once again placed school fires at the centre of national outrage.

A survivor of the deadly blaze at Utumishi Girls Academy has revealed chilling details about the night the fire broke out, raising serious concerns about safety measures in schools.

She recalled that confusion spread quickly as flames engulfed parts of the dormitory.

Students scrambled for safety, but poor coordination worsened the situation. At the center of her account, she claimed the matron failed to act decisively when the fires started.

“The matron at Utumishi Girls Academy only opened one door instead of two when fire broke out. Instead of alerting the children to get out, she walked away,” she said.

Her statement has intensified public anger, as many question whether negligence worsened the impact of the fires.

Investigators have launched a probe to establish the cause of the fire and the response by school authorities.

Also Read: Parent Breaks Down While Narrating How Utumishi Girls Students Tried to Save Themselves During Fire

 Kenya Needs Structural Reform

However, the tragedy has sparked a wider national debate about preparedness in learning institutions.

Many Kenyans now argue that repeated fires in schools reflect deep systemic failure rather than isolated mistakes.

Experts continue to warn that schools must strengthen safety systems.

They urge institutions to install functional alarms, conduct regular evacuation drills and maintain clear emergency exits.

Without these measures, they say, fires will continue to put students at risk.

Meanwhile, education stakeholders have called on the government to enforce strict compliance and hold institutions accountable.

They argue that strong oversight will help prevent future fires and restore public trust.

As investigations continue, families of affected students demand justice. They insist that anyone responsible for negligence linked to the fires must face the law and ensure such tragedies never happen again.

The Ministry of Education cannot escape responsibility.

Officials who approve unsafe dormitory designs, ignore inspection failures, overlook overcrowding, or sign off on non-compliant infrastructure must also face accountability.

Fire safety must not remain a reaction after fires break out; it must become a permanent obligation.

Architects and engineers also carry responsibility.

They must design dormitories with safe exits and emergency systems. When they fail, they turn schools into death traps during fires.

Equally, society must stop normalizing these tragedies.

Parents often return children to the same unsafe schools due to limited alternatives. School owners continue operations even after fatal fires.

The system protects institutions more than it protects children.

Kenya must now confront a difficult truth: the current boarding school system exposes learners to repeated fires that should never occur in the first place.

Without urgent reform, more families will continue to suffer the same loss.

The deaths at Utumishi Girls Academy must not become another forgotten statistic.

A nation that cannot protect its children from fires in schools has failed its most basic duty.

The blood of these children demands more than condolences. It demands justice, accountability, and transformation.

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Utumishi Girls Academy Dormitory that Caught fire. PHOTO/ The Standard.