Matisi primary school in Trans Nzoia West District has had a blow after text books worth Kshs 255,000 were stolen Tuesday night by thieves.

According to the school head teacher Robert Wanyonyi, the thugs who were said to be armed with a gun as revealed by the night guard, entered the school at around 10pm through the fence from the secondary section.

He told reporters in the school that the thieves managed to tie up the primary and secondary guards forcing them to sleep on the floor facing downwards before they embarked on their mission.

“The watchman said that the his secondary counterpart had seen some people cross over the fence and moved fast to reach him to alert him about the strangers who had entered the compound and before he went back to his station, the thieves captured him and tied him together with our watchman," said the head teacher.

The thieves then cut the window grills of the school library, the staff room and the deputy head teacher's office whereby they stole all the new text books they found there.

One of the windows of the library which the thieves used to enter after cutting its metal grills.

Among the stolen books included those for English, Kiswahili, C.R.E, Maths and dictionaries and also stole Kshs 7500 cash money found in the deputy head teacher's office which the teachers said was meant for examinations.

However, it was not clear how the thieves managed to ferry away the books bearing in mind that the watchman noted them with a bicycle in the compound.

The school has over 1650 pupils whom the head teacher said shall be direly affected by the thefts and thus has called on the government and well wishers to step in and assist the school to acquire books as investigations are going on to establish where the books went.

Area education officer Aggrey Bunyali who also toured the school raised concern on the rampant thefts in schools in his central zone hence called upon police to do thorough investigations in the matter so that the thefts which seem to be a big syndicate can be unveiled.

Over ten schools in Trans Nzoia West District and twenty others in Kwanza district have lost books worth over Kshs 3 million in the last one year.