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Regrettably, school fires have become almost a normal occurrence in Kenya.
A 2018 report recorded 63 arson cases in schools in a single year. Following the recent Utumishi Girls Academy tragedy, the Kenya Red Cross reported that, by early June alone, it had already responded to 37 school fires in 2026.
Kenyans still bear the scars of the country’s deadliest school fire tragedies, from St Kizito Secondary School in 1991 and Kyanguli Secondary School in 2001 to Moi Girls School, Nairobi, in 2017, Hillside Endarasha Academy in 2024 and, most recently, Utumishi Girls Academy in 2026. Together, these disasters have claimed well over 140 young lives.
Yet after every tragedy, the national response follows a familiar pattern: condolences, blame directed at school management, the dissolution of a board, disciplinary action against a few teachers, calls for parents to do better, the appointment of task forces, and promises that such a tragedy must never happen again. Then another school burns.
