http://www.theage.com.au/frontpage/20001114/A49363-2000Nov14.html

300 boys attack girls school
By James Astill in Nairobi
Tuesday 14 November 2000

THREE hundred Kenyan schoolboys tried to fight their way into a neighbouring co-educational school on Saturday night, allegedly in an attempt to rape the school's 200 female boarders.

After a pitched battle with the girls and their male classmates lasting most of the night, the boys were dispersed when police arrived and fired shots over their heads. Thirty-four boys were yesterday (Mon) arrested in connection with the attack, which apparently failed in its objective.

"This raid was well organised," said a teacher at the besieged Ndururmo Mixed High School in Kenya's Central Province, who wished to remain anonymous. "The invaders came dressed in our uniforms which they had stolen on Thursday night. We suspect they planned to rape the girls."

Several dozen students were injured in the attack, which began when the boys gathered around the girls' dormitory at 10pm, reportedly high on drink and drugs. Alerted by the girls' screams as the intruders tried to force their way in, male pupils came running from their own dormitory to fight them off with broken-up chairs and other makeshift weapons.

Police called all 600 pupils of Nyahururu Boys High School, at the foot of Mt. Kenya, to an inspection yesterday morning. Any boy with fresh cuts or bruises was arrested. However, many of the schoolboys were thought to be hiding in nearby maize fields to escape arrest.

The incident is only the latest example of the violence currently plaguing Kenya's schools. More than 100 pupil riots have been reported this year. In one recent incident, schoolboys set their matron's house alight after she refused them access to their female classmates' dormitory. In another, high school pupils attempted to burn their prefects alive, complaining that they were too strict.

Annie RU