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Case against Hillside Endarasha Academy’s reopening withdrawn

Hillside Endarasha Academy in Kieni, Nyeri

Hillside Endarasha Academy in Kieni, Nyeri County.

Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • The judge noted that the agreement required the school owners to shut down the boarding facilities and run the institution as a mixed-day school for boys and girls.
  • “Further, the school management and the Ministry of Education will be required to provide psychological support to the remaining students, particularly those who lost their friends,” the judge ruled.

A case challenging the reopening of Hillside Endarasha Academy’s boarding wing, where 21 boys perished in a dormitory fire on September 5, 2024, has been withdrawn after parties in the matter signed a consent.

The case was filed in October last year by two non-governmental organisations— the Kenya Human Rights Commission and Elimu Bora Working Group— along with human rights activist David Karani.

They sued the school’s board of management, Ministry of Education, and the attorney-general for reopening the institution barely a month after the tragedy without implementing necessary safety measures.

During a previous court session, the school owners, David Kinyua and Mary Wanjeri, through their lawyer Robert Kimunya, informed the court that they had decided to operate the institution solely as a day school.

During the hearing on Tuesday, High Court Judge Magare Kizito adopted the consent, marking the matter as settled.

The judge noted that the agreement required the school owners to shut down the boarding facilities and run the institution as a mixed-day school for boys and girls.

“Further, the school management and the Ministry of Education will be required to provide psychological support to the remaining students, particularly those who lost their friends,” the judge ruled.

Justice Kizito also withdrew the petition against the National Education Board, which was listed as the sixth respondent in the suit after establishing that such an office does not exist.