Parents worry about ‘death trap’ dorms in children’s schools

Parents have raised serious concerns over the safety of their children in school dormitories, especially in the event of fire. This fear has been prompted by rising cases of dorm fires and the resulting injuries and deaths of students.

Although some of the cases have been accidental, fingers are also being pointed at arsonists. The latest incident of a dormitory fire occurred at Tala High School in Machakos County, in which one student died and others were severely burned. Speaking at the scene, area police boss Joseph Chesire said majority of the students could have come out of the dormitory unhurt if the windows did not have grills. He also said that students sustained burns as they scrambled to exit the burning dormitory. The emergency door was permanently sealed.

Milka Chesang, the mother of a Form Two student in a national school in Nairobi, says the safety of her daughter occupies her mind constantly.

“There is reason for worry. You do not know whether or not your child is safe. When I took her to school, I asked the management to explain the structure of the dormitories but the answers were not adequate. I am sure most parents have the same worries every time their children take the bus to boarding school. Most of our schools do not follow the required safety standards,” says Chesang.

Edward Mungai, another parent, believes students stand in harm’s way unless the authorities take drastic action.

He said, “The fact that some schools have fire extinguisher cylinders placed at the entrance does not mean students are safe. Do dormitories have exit doors? In most cases, only one door is operational. This means the chances of survival in case of a fire are minimal.’’

Boniface Mbugua, an architect in Nairobi, explains the importance of incorporating proper designs in dormitories to ensure safety. 

“Do the dormitories meet the design and structural requirements? In most cases, professionals are not involved in the construction, meaning that several aspects like safety are ignored. The design and structural mistakes we make come back to haunt us later,” he says.

A Safety Standards Manual for Schools in Kenya prepared by the Ministry of Education and updated in 2012 spells out the basic safety standards. On dormitories, reads the manual, all doors must be at least five feet wide. The doors must open outwards and must never be closed from outside when students are inside.The manual states that each dorm should have a door at each end and an emergency exit, which should be clearly marked ‘Emergency Exit’. The windows should not have grills and should be easy to open outwards.

Some of the worst dormitory fires in Kenya include the Bombolulu Girls’ Secondary School one in 1998, which left 26 girls dead, and the Kyanguli Mixed Secondary fire, which killed 67 students.

Recommendations by a commission of inquiry into the incident are yet to be made public.