LARI SCHOOLS SHUT AMID STUDENT CRISIS RUMORS

A wave of school closures has struck Kiambu County’s Lari Sub-county, with at least ten secondary schools among them, —Ragia Forest Secondary and Kiambogo Secondary—officially shut down, sparking speculation of coordinated student unrest allegedly organized through WhatsApp.
Education officials, however, have downplayed claims of student-led chaos, attributing the closures to low student enrollment and poor academic performance, particularly in the 2024 KCSE exams.
“Some of these schools had fewer than 150 students across all four forms, with no Form One enrollment in 2025,” said a Kiambu education officer, noting that efforts to keep the institutions running had become unsustainable.
Unconfirmed reports circulating in the area suggest that students in several schools had planned coordinated disruptions via WhatsApp groups, raising concern over the role of social media in fueling potential unrest. However, authorities say no formal reports or disciplinary records support these claims in the affected Lari schools.
Nationwide, the Ministry of Education is grappling with a growing trend of student unrest in early 2025, with incidents of arson, destruction of property, and strikes reported in schools such as Nakuru Boys High School and Mukaa Boys High School. But so far, Lari School's closures remain linked to structural challenges rather than student misconduct.
Community members are urging the government to intervene and either revive the affected institutions or redistribute students to nearby schools to prevent further educational disruption in the region.
“We cannot let rural children be left out just because numbers have dwindled,” said a concerned parent in Kiambogo.
The Ministry of Education has not yet announced plans to reopen the closed schools or offer alternative placements for students who may be affected.