KANGARU GIRLS CLOSED INDEFINITELY AS SCHOOL STRIKES SWEEP EMBU — STUDENTS FLEE INTO RAIN-SOAKED STREETS

Two of Kenya's most prestigious national schools in Embu County  Kangaru Boys High School and Kangaru Girls High School  have been shut down indefinitely after a dramatic wave of student unrest that saw hundreds of learners walk off school grounds into dark, rain-drenched streets over the weekend, in scenes that shocked parents and residents across the country.

How It Started — A Fire Extinguisher and a Punishment

The chaos began on Saturday night, March 22, at Kangaru Boys High School, when students launched a midnight strike after one of their colleagues was reportedly assaulted by a teacher. Enraged students poured through the school gates and flooded the streets of Embu town shortly after midnight, some of them barefoot, carrying personal belongings in small bags. Others were spotted stranded at a bus terminal and roadside shops as the night wore on, with teachers and school guards unable to restore order and police called in for reinforcement.

The following evening, barely 24 hours later, the unrest jumped the fence to the neighbouring Kangaru Girls High School. The trigger there was different but equally trivial in scale  school authorities had traced CCTV footage showing a student who had allegedly misused a fire extinguisher during a weekend entertainment session. When the student was punished, her classmates erupted in solidarity.

Large groups of girls left the school premises and began walking towards Embu town as heavy rain pounded the area. Videos that circulated widely on social media showed hundreds of students trudging through the rain in the dark, sparking alarm among parents who recognised their daughters in the footage.

"Students from a girls' school in Embu have decided to run away from their school at this hour  I hope the girls will be safe till morning. No one can get home at this hour," one Embu resident posted online.

Witnesses reported that students destroyed school property during the walkout, and several police officers who attempted to intervene and contain the situation sustained injuries in the process.

Both Schools Shut Down — Parents Sent Urgent Messages

By Monday morning, March 23, school administrations acting jointly with Embu County education officials made the decision to shut both schools indefinitely. Parents received urgent SMS messages instructing them to pick up their children or provide fare for their journey home. Security personnel were deployed to both institutions to oversee an orderly exit.

The synchronized closure of two national schools  on back-to-back nights  in the same neighbourhood sent shockwaves through Kenya's education community, with many questioning what is truly driving the escalating wave of student unrest across the country.

A National Pattern That Refuses to Stop

The Kangaru incidents are not isolated events. Kenya has experienced a sharp and deeply troubling increase in school strikes since the start of 2026, cutting across both boys' and girls' national schools in multiple counties.

The Interior Ministry's Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo acknowledged the severity of the situation as far back as February 4, when he announced that the Ministry of Interior had launched a crackdown in several counties to curb school unrest, pledging to work with the Ministry of Education to monitor situations and respond to emergencies. Despite that announcement, the strikes have continued.

Authorities have repeatedly warned that students found engaging in vandalism or criminal activities during such unrest will face the full force of the law, but the warnings appear to have had limited deterrent effect.

Parents Demand Answers

For the parents of Kangaru Girls students, the images of their daughters walking alone through the rain and darkness of Embu at night was a terrifying sight that no warning from authorities could fully address.

"My daughter is in that school. I saw a video and I couldn't sleep," one parent told journalists gathered outside the school gates on Monday morning.

Education stakeholders are now calling for a deeper, honest investigation into what is truly driving the unrest in Kenya's schools going beyond punishments and security crackdowns to address questions of student welfare, mental health, the quality of the learning environment and the relationship between students and school administration.

The boards of management for both schools have indicated that detailed communication to parents on the resumption of classes will be issued once authorities have fully assessed the situation and determined that it is safe for students to return.

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