Endarasha Hillside Academy has postponed its reopening from Monday, October 7, to Wednesday, October 9, 2024, almost a month after a fire tragedy killed 21 boys.
According to Nyeri County Education Director Jane Njogu, a stakeholder meeting at the school pushed the reopening date to allow for full preparations.
"We have looked at those recommendations against the checklist and we realized that the preparations are in top gear; however, we realized that there is some work that's incomplete, and the fundis told us that it was not possible to be complete by Sunday.”
The school has reduced the number of children boarding, and all wooden beds in the girls' dormitory have been replaced with metallic ones, as recommended by the committee that examined safety in the school.
Further, the boys will be accommodated in Junior Secondary School (JSS) classes as construction of their dormitory is ongoing. One requirement was to eliminate all wooden structures.
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The Thursday meeting at the school was meant to ensure that all safety measures were in place before the reopening.
"We realized that parents were also becoming anxious because the assessments for classes other than KPSEA had started, so we want to come and assure them that all is well," Njogu added.
For her part, Deputy County Commissioner Agnes Shadrack revealed that the government had provided 200 blankets, 200 mattresses, foodstuffs, and utensils, among other necessities, ahead of the opening.
"The boys lost their personal items, and so the government has provided them with Ksh.21,000 and other assistance to help them buy personal belongings for their children.”
The school has also reduced the number of boarding students from 300 to 195, including 97 boys and 98 girls, in a bid to decongest the school.
