Days after the schools reopened,eight secondary school girls were forced to spend a night at Maralal Police station in Samburu County after they were arrested for loitering in the streets.
They were found hanging around nightclubs in school uniform at around 2am.
The girls were among a group of over 20 other students who were being expected to board buses at midnight back to their schools outside the county.
Samburu Central police boss Abagaro Guyo told the Star on Saturday before their arrest, the girls were on their way back to school after the holiday.
“We arrested the girls who were hanging around nightclubs. They had left their belonging in a bus and were loitering in town at 2am,” he said.
Guyo told parents to mind the security of their children and especially schoolgirls.
“At such an hour, the town is full of people with evil intentions. It takes only minutes to mess a girl child’s life,” he said.
Samburu Woman Representative Maison Leshoomo asked parents to be escorting their children to school to avoid such incidences.
“Don’t assume that your child has gone back to school from home without a follow up, please escort your children until after they have been received at school, some children are staying in the town for more than a week as parents think they travelled back to school,” she said.
But some resident appealed to the police to be lenient with the children adding that transport in Maralal town is challenging at night.
“Students travelling to Nyahururu from here use buses that operate at night,” a resident said.