Students occupying a single-storey building that serves as their classrooms at Bahati ADC Comprehensive School in Hamisi Sub County, Vihiga County, were on Monday, January 26, 2026 evacuated from the building as it showed signs of collapse when it started cracking.
In an interview with KNA, Kenneth Ndalo, a parent at the school, said that the construction of the single-storey building was a project done by the Japanese for additional classes, aimed for use by the Junior Secondary school students in the implementation of the new curriculum.
He added that the storey building came to be after one floor was added on top of already existing classes, seemingly making the building weak, as the foundation of the already existing classes was not strong enough to accommodate another floor.
He pointed out that this incident has also presented another challenge of having inadequate classrooms for the students to study in, since the four classrooms from which students were evacuated have been condemned.
Speaking to the press, Ainea Avunama, a school committee member, narrated how they once used the building for a meeting and as they were walking, they could feel the building being shaky, something that concerned them deeply.
Avunama added that the students had even requested to be taken to a nearby school, where they believed that the buildings were safer than in their school.
He further said that the students had complained that when they jumped inside the classrooms, at times they could see the windows’ glasses breaking down bit by bit and that the building had nearly caved in at the area where grade 7 students had their classes.
He concluded that he was worried, as the concerned education stakeholders had not taken any necessary steps required to curb the situation.
He also criticized the masons who were involved in the construction of the building, as they had done a poor job.
By Yvonne Misango and Maureen Imbayi
