Posts falsely claim to show students arriving at Kenyan elite school by helicopter
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on January 19, 2024 at 11:00
- 3 min read
- By Mary KULUNDU, AFP Kenya
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On January 15, 2024, Kenyan comedian Churchill Ndambuki -- who has more than 2.8 million Instagram followers -- shared an image of five people next to a helicopter on a field. One of them appears to be a student in school uniform with a green sweater, beige shorts, and socks.
“Students flying during the Opening day at the St. Andrews School, Turi Molo, Nakuru,” reads the post on Instagram.
On X, the same claim and image were shared by two Kenyan accounts with large followings here and here.
On Facebook, a post shared an image of more than 20 helicopters on a field alongside the caption: “This St Andrew Turi Molo form one admission Day. Wewe ulipelekwa na nini?” The last sentence, in Swahili, translates to: “How were you taken to school?”
The same claim was repeated on Facebook (here and here) and TikTok (here).
Some online users appeared to believe the images were indeed of St Andrews School Turi, one of the most prestigious private schools in Kenya.
“Is it really true we are living in hard economic times (in Kenya)?” one commenter mused.
Some noted how difficult it was for many Kenyans to put food on the table while others could afford helicopter rides.
The international boarding school has been ranked as one of the most expensive schools in Kenya and its fee structure has previously ignited online debates about social class in the country.
St Andrews School Turi does have an airstrip, and according to its website (archived here), chartered flights can be organised to get there. But the images shared in the posts are not from Kenya.
Unrelated images
A reverse image search of the first picture was taken at a school in Zimbabwe.
AFP Fact Check located the image on the Facebook account of Lomagundi College Primary School -- a private school in Zimbabwe (archived here).
“Our campus is buzzing again with the return of our students from the school holidays,” reads the post published on January 9, 2024.
Additionally, the school uniform seen in the photo is different from that of St Andrews School Turi but matches that of the Zimbabwean institution.
A reverse image search of the second picture locates it on an Instagram page belonging to an American helicopter manufacturer, MD Helicopters. It published the photo on June 13, 2023 (archived here).
According to the caption, the picture was captured during The Great UK/Europe 500 Fly In, an event held in the United Kingdom to showcase MD 500 helicopters.
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