The current wave of unrest continued to rock secondary schools country wide at the weekend, with the total number of institutions affected so far in Central Province rising to 10.

In Nyeri, about 160 male students of Aguthi Mixed Secondary School went on the rampage and destroyed property worth tens of thousands of shillings on Saturday night.

The charged students stoned classrooms and dormitories shattering windowpanes, electric bulbs, doors and other property during the 2 am incident.

Police were called in just before the students could storm the girls' dormitories and the boys fled into the neighbouring farms and villages where they spent the night. It was suspected the male students wanted to force their female colleagues to join in the strike.

Fear of mock examinations and drug abuse are some of the reasons education officials have cited as the cause of the rampant student riots.

The police boss George Wafula said the Aguthi students were protesting against the mock examinations which they claimed were too hard.

In Kangundo - which has been in the limelight recently due to the high number of local schools hit by unrest - Kisukioni High School students went on the rampage protesting against alleged love affairs between male teachers and female students.

The male students also incited their female counterparts to torch buildings at the institution causing damage worth over Sh3 million.

Yesterday, shocked parents demanded the sacking of the principal, Mr Patrick Mwongela, whom they said was running the school poorly.

At least 12 schools in Kangundo and Machakos have been shut so far and property worth over Sh30 million destroyed in the raging orgies of violence by students.

Twenty-five teachers of Busali Union Mixed Secondary School in Vihiga District escaped death by a whisker when over 400 students besieged them in the staffroom during a riot.

The school principal Mr Aggrey Luvaga said the students went on the rampage immediately after the morning assembly on Friday at 8.30 am and extensively damaged eight classrooms.

Luvaga said the enraged students then turned on the staffroom, where he and other teachers had taken cover, pelting it with stones and also damaged it extensively. No teacher was injured during the incident.

The rioting students, who were chanting circumcision songs, were protesting against the introduction of new academic programmes at the school. Five female students were admitted to Sabatia Health Centre after sustaining injuries during the stampede.

An alleged randy businessman in Bomet town got more than he bargained for after irate students of Menet Mixed Secondary School arrested him on claims he was luring the female students to have affairs with him. The businessman escaped lynching by a whisker after he was accosted by more than 100 students who accused him of making nightly visits to their institution.

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