Kenyan families were overwhelmed with grief on Friday during a mass held for 16 girls killed in a suspected arson attack at their school, part of a wave of pupil unrest that has unsettled the country.
Kenya has recorded 47 school fires this year, as students protest a range of issues including exam pressure, corruption, and conditions in boarding schools, which are common across the country.
“Why, why God have you gone?” a girl cried beside the coffin of one of the victims from Utumishi Girls Academy in Nakuru County, where the fire occurred on May 28.
The pupils were trapped in a dormitory after a blaze broke out in the middle of the night. Sixteen girls aged between 15 and 18 died, while 132 others were injured, according to the Red Cross.
Nine students from the academy, which primarily serves children of police officers, remain in custody as investigations continue.
At the funeral mass held at Gilgil Stadium in Nakuru County, about 120 kilometres north of Nairobi, religious leaders urged mourners to focus on prayer rather than the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.
“We have come for prayers, not politics,” one priest said, standing before small white coffins decorated with orange, white, and pink flowers.
Mothers and relatives wailed as the coffins were brought in procession. At least three parents fainted, while one father had to be restrained as emotions ran high.
“I have never expected something like this. A school is supposed to be the safest place for children,” said Liz Munyaga, 46, whose 17-year-old niece Gertrude died in the fire.
“Why turn on a fellow schoolmate? That is the question we are all asking,” she added.
‘So terrifying’
Several more school fires have been reported since the Utumishi incident, prompting dozens of boarding schools to send students home amid fears of further unrest.
Experts say the incidents may be driven by copycat behaviour as well as long-standing frustration with an under-resourced and high-pressure education system.
Police said the bodies were found on the upper floor of the two-storey dormitory.
One survivor, 15-year-old Rosie, said she woke to smoke and flames and tried to force open a locked door before jumping from the first floor, injuring her leg.
“I was very scared,” she said. “It was so terrifying, but even as I was jumping I was remembering that there were some girls left behind.”
There have been longstanding complaints that students are locked inside dormitories at night, in violation of fire safety regulations.
Sitting in the stands before the ceremony, dressed in black with a white T-shirt bearing her school’s name, Rosie spoke tearfully about her best friend Abigail, who died in the blaze.
“She was a dancer, we would always chat together,” she said, struggling to hold back emotion.
“It is really painful to me,” she added. “We have been so traumatised.”
