Kenya’s Garissa University Re-Opens Nearly Nine Months After The Deadly Terrorist, Draws Mixed Reactions From Students And Teachers

Classes resumed on Monday at Kenya's Garissa University nine months after the campus was attacked by armed terrorist, resulting in the death of many students. 

According to BBC News, at least 148 people at Garissa University, mostly students, were killed by Islamist gunmen last April. The Al-Shabab gunmen stormed in at dawn, singled out the Christians and shot them to death. More than 500 students escaped the attack with 79 of them sustaining life-threatening injuries.

Reports show thatt most of the survivors have transferred to a sister campus in Eldoret, western Kenya, for the rest of the school year.

CNN reported that the school authorities have done renovations and tightened the security with the hope of attracting a new cohort of students by September, the start of the academic year. The walls have been repainted and the dormitories renamed. Also, school authorities have boosted the in-campus security by raising their security officers from four to 30. A police station has also been set up at the school compound.

Following the announcement that the school would re-open, students and administrators expressed mixed reactions, Yahoo News asserted.

"I am very jubilant for the reopening, we went for our first lesson, and we are back to the university as normal," said Shamza Abdi, a student.

"Those rooms they're in --there's so many people's blood there," said Risper Nyang'au, who survived the attack. "How will you study? You will think, 'this is where my fellow students died.'"

Nyang'au survived with multiple bullet wounds to her leg. She still walks with a limp, and the scars on her body are a reminder of the attack to date. "Those of us who lived. We still have not healed," she says.

Meanwhile, Ahmed Warfa, Garissa University Principal, said that closing the school is an indication of how weak the school is, and Al-Shabaab would have won.

It is reported that about 200 students have already returned to the school.

Meanwhile, the trial of the five men accused of supporting the attack is still ongoing at a Nairobi court.