Students go on strike after being denied exam leakage
Onjiko high school in Kisumu County was Monday evening closed indefinitely following student unrest.
The schools’ principal Alfred Edward Ochiel told journalists that the students went on rampage after he denied their request to engage the Kenya National Examinations (Knec) to get leakage to the 2016 Kenyan Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam.
The students reportedly told their principal that the other option was to engage the exam council to review their grades upwards after their scripts have been marked.
The principal claimed that the students had appealed to him to approve an increment in the school fees to get funds that will be used to facilitate the exam cheating.
“This was not a spontaneous reaction to a request that we deduct Sh9,000 for the manipulation of exam results. We highly believe there was a bigger scheme whose crafters must be unearthed,” Mr Ochiel told journalists.
“The boys destroyed the school bus and tens of computers at the school’s ICT laboratory,” he said.
They also looted foodstuffs from the schools store, canteen and smashed dormitory and classroom windows.
“We decided to close the school after the boys became uncontrollable,” Mr Ochiel said.
Mr Ochiel said the cause of the riots was being investigated, with valuation of the damage already underway.
“They were shouting that ‘Ochiel must go’. We cannot help students to buy grades. I have been around long enough to understand that there is more than meets the eye regarding the incident,” the teacher said.
“The ministry of public works will assess the scale of the damage but it looks immense,” Mr Ochiel said.
