A leading girls’ school in Makueni County has been temporarily closed after dozens of students reportedly fell ill with symptoms linked to a suspected diarrhoea outbreak, raising fresh concerns about sanitation and student health in Kenyan boarding schools.
Parents streamed into Mbooni Girls High School on Tuesday after the school administration asked them to collect their children as health officials began investigations into the sudden illnesses.
School officials said the closure was a precaution aimed at containing the situation while public health officers assess the source of the outbreak. Several students were said to have complained of stomach pain, diarrhoea and related symptoms before the decision was made.
Local authorities have not yet confirmed the exact cause of the illnesses. Health officers are expected to inspect the school’s water supply, kitchen facilities and sanitation systems as part of the inquiry.
“The safety and wellbeing of learners remains the priority,” one education official familiar with the matter said, adding that students would only return once the environment is declared safe.
The incident has unsettled parents in Mbooni and surrounding areas, where the national school is widely regarded as one of the county’s top-performing institutions. Some parents who arrived to pick up their children said they wanted quicker communication from the school once the first cases emerged.
County health officials have urged calm, saying investigations are ongoing and that measures are being taken to prevent further infections.
School closures linked to illness outbreaks are uncommon but not unheard of in Kenya’s boarding schools, where crowded dormitories and shared facilities can allow infections to spread quickly if not contained early.
Authorities are expected to issue a fuller report once laboratory tests and inspections are complete.
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