Parents of several Form Four students from Trans Nzoia Secondary School in Trans Nzoia County stormed a local police station on Friday morning, demanding the immediate release of candidates who had been arrested the previous night.
The students, all of whom are minors sitting for their KCSE exams, were reportedly taken into custody after police received claims that they were planning to start a riot within the school.
According to the distressed parents, the arrests took place on the evening of Thursday, November 20, after officers allegedly acted on unverified information that the candidates were preparing and mobilising for unrest.
The parents said the students spent the entire night in police cells, and none of the guardians were notified about the arrests, despite the learners being underage and still under parental care.
One of the parents, who spoke on behalf of the group, expressed deep fear for her son, saying the current insecurity in the country made her worried that something harmful could happen to him while in custody.
She questioned why parents were left in the dark, insisting that the children were not even given a chance to record statements or defend themselves before being detained.
Other parents added that their children had neither been formally booked nor charged, raising questions about whether the proper legal procedure was followed during the arrest.
They repeatedly asked the officers to explain why minors were locked up without any documentation or communication to their families.
A father whose son suffers from asthma shared his concerns, noting that the boy had left home without a sweater and ended up spending a cold night inside a police cell.
He urged officers to act lawfully by either charging the students if they had committed any offence or releasing them immediately so they could continue with their examinations.
Parents emphasised that holding the candidates overnight had already caused unnecessary emotional trauma, and the stress could seriously affect their performance in the final KCSE papers.
Their worry was intensified by the timing of the arrests, as the national exams — which began on October 21, 2025 — were set to end on November 21, 2025. They feared the detained learners might miss their last papers if the situation was not resolved urgently.
The chairman of the school’s Board of Management also accompanied the parents to the police station.
He confirmed that attempts to discuss the matter with the Officer Commanding Station (OCS) had failed, saying the OCS dismissed the concerns raised about the welfare and rights of the students.
The chairman admitted that the situation had escalated beyond expectations and apologised to the parents for the distress caused.
He assured them that efforts would be made to resolve the issue as quickly as possible so the candidates could return to school and complete their exams without further disruption.
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