Over 200 striking students at Mufutu Secondary School in Lugari Sub-County have been sent home indefinitely following a riot at the institution, during which two police officers were injured with stones.
Rampaging students armed with stones and other crude weapons, destroyed school property of an unknown value, when they protested against the school management for alleged high handedness.
The unruly students claimed the number of teachers at the school was extremely low with one teacher forced to teach one subject from Form-one to form-four.
In what started as a peaceful demonstration, the protest turned chaotic after rowdy students pelted police and teachers trying to quell the demonstration with stones.
“Even two of my police officers were injured after they attempted to control the rowdy students who were destroying school property,” Lugari Sub-County Police Commander Bernard Ngungu said.
Ngungu said it took police and other Sub-County education officials several hours to control students who were later directed to leave the school compound immediately.
The striking students further claimed the school was operating on a ‘hands to mouth scenario’, while blaming the school management for failing to buy enough food in the school.
The students also noted in their list of complaints that meals were served late, adding that rations were also not enough with some students on many occasions missing food.
They claimed that even after many of them successfully completing paying school fees, there are huge electricity bills which are yet to be settled, noting that sections of classrooms and students’ toilets were also in dilapidated condition.
Despite paying money for remedial teaching, the students complained that the teachers were not honouring the said class hours.
The also poked holes in the principal’s management style for failing to erect a school fence and also lack of a constant source of water.
Lugari Sub-County Director of Education Magdalene Igwatai said her office together with other stakeholders have moved swiftly to investigate and resolve the problem at the school.
Efforts to reach the school principal Tom Kitiabi for comment proved fruitless after calls to his cellphone went unanswered.
