A fire at a boarding school in central Kenya has killed 16 students, with sources confirming that British safety inspectors had flagged severe fire hazards at the institution just months earlier. The blaze, which tore through a dormitory at Hillside Endarasha Primary School in Nyeri County late on Thursday night, also left at least 70 children hospitalised, many with critical burns.
Uncovered documents obtained by this paper show that a team from the UK’s Department for International Development, conducting a routine audit of school safety standards under a bilateral aid programme, filed a confidential report in June warning of “imminent risk of catastrophic fire” due to faulty wiring, blocked fire exits, and a lack of sprinklers. The report, marked “Urgent: Immediate Remedial Action Required,” recommended that the dormitory be closed until repairs were made. It was never acted upon.
“The inspectors were emphatic: that building was a death trap,” a source with direct knowledge of the audit told this reporter. “They said if a fire started at night, children would have no chance. And that is exactly what happened.”
Kenya’s Ministry of Education has confirmed that the school received the report but claimed that funding for upgrades was not available. The ministry’s permanent secretary, Dr. Belio Kipsang, said in a statement that “a comprehensive review of all schools with similar infrastructure is underway.” But for the families of the 16 dead, that offers cold comfort.
The victims, aged between 9 and 13, were asleep when the fire began. Witnesses described scenes of panic as teachers and older students tried to break down locked doors to reach the children. Two teachers suffered smoke inhalation in the rescue attempt. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but officials say an electrical fault is the primary suspect.
This tragedy comes just two years after a similar inferno at a primary school in Kisumu killed 14 students, prompting then-British High Commissioner Jane Marriott to call for “urgent and comprehensive fire safety reform” in Kenyan schools. That call was echoed by the UK’s Foreign Office, which pledged technical assistance. Yet little changed.
“We see the same pattern: a British-funded audit, a damning report, a promise of action, and then a fire,” said an independent safety consultant who has worked with the Kenyan government. “The money follows the scandal. But the bodies come first.”
The British High Commission in Nairobi has declined to comment on the specific audit, citing confidentiality. But a spokesperson said, “We are deeply saddened by this tragedy and will continue to support Kenya in improving school safety.” Those words might as well be carved in stone: they were the exact same ones used after Kisumu.
Parents at Hillside Endarasha have begun filing a class-action lawsuit against the school and the ministry, alleging negligence. One father, who lost his only daughter, 11, told me: “They knew. They knew and they did nothing. My child is dead because of paperwork.”
As investigators sift through the charred remains of the dormitory, a familiar cycle begins: promises of accountability, pledges of funding, and the slow grinding of bureaucratic wheels. Meanwhile, 16 families will never hear their children laugh again.
The question is not whether another school will burn. It is when. And which British inspectors will be the first to know.
