Litein Boys High School in Bureti Constituency, Kericho County, has been closed indefinitely following a violent night of student unrest that left property destroyed and learning disrupted.
The unrest reportedly began after the administration denied the students an opportunity to watch the much-anticipated English Premier League match between Arsenal and Manchester City.
Sources within the school revealed that the students had requested to view the 90-minute match under the usual weekend entertainment schedule, a practice common in many boys’ schools. However, the administration declined the request, triggering unrest among the learners.
The situation quickly escalated into a full-blown strike, with the students resorting to violence to express their anger towards the school administration.
The aftermath, after-school students went on a rampage at Litein High School over a football match.
In the aftermath, dormitories and classrooms were engulfed in smoke, with property worth millions of shillings destroyed.
According to videos and images circulating online, several school blocks were torched, leaving behind charred walls and debris.
Students are said to have overpowered security and police officers after switching off all lights in the compound, allowing them to carry out the destruction under the cover of darkness.
The closure comes just weeks before the start of the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations.
Officers from Litein Police Station and Bureti Sub-County were called in to contain the situation. Tear gas was used to disperse the rioting students, some of whom attempted to storm out of the compound while others tried to bring down the school’s perimeter fence.
Despite efforts by officers to calm the situation, the damage had already been done—four classrooms were extensively vandalized, several windowpanes were shattered, and both the library and computer laboratories were partially destroyed by fire.
