Kenyan prosecutors are preparing to charge eight students with murder following a deadly dormitory fire at Utumishi Girls’ School that killed 16 pupils. The fire occurred on May 28th.

• 16 students, aged 15-18, died in the fire.
• The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has approved murder charges against eight implicated students.
• Preliminary findings suggest multiple safety breaches, including overcrowding and a locked emergency exit.

In the Utumishi Girls High School fire probe, one student has been released after investigations found her not culpable, while eight others remain in detention.

• 8 students had their detention extended by two days for 16 murder charges.
• The Office of the Public Prosecutions (ODPP) approved charges following a review of evidence from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
• The nine students were linked to the fire tragedy that occurred on May 28, 2026.

The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) has instructed school principals to register all Grade 10 learners on the School-Based Assessment (SBA) portal by July 30.

• This directive impacts approximately 1.13 million Grade 10 students.
• The registration is crucial for managing continuous assessment data and learner biodata under the Competency-Based Education (CBE) framework.
• Principals must use their newly generated universal centre code as both username and password to access the portal at cba.knec.ac.ke.