Thousands of mourners packed a stadium in central Kenya on Thursday to hold a sombre memorial service for 21 boys killed in a school dormitory fire this month.

Grieving relatives wept as they carried the white and gold caskets into a huge dome-shaped tent set up in the stadium, some 170 kilometres north of the capital Nairobi.

Fire tore through the boys' dormitory as they slept at the Hillside Endarasha Academy — a boarding school for young students — on September 6.

The cause of the inferno remains under investigation.

The youngest victim, described by his parents as "talented and visionary", was just 11 years old.

"It has been 20 days of agony, sleepless nights, confusion," a parent, who gave his name as Mwangi, told AFP.

"We will be burying him at the family home but he goes with a part of me. I will never be complete without my son."

Nine families were set to bury their children on Thursday.

"We have crossed many rivers before, even with strains, but this one is wide, deep and torrential," said Amos, a student at the school, in an eulogy at the service.

Kenya has a history of school fires, many of which have turned out to be arson by students, compounded by poor safety standards.

There have been more than a dozen this year alone.

One of the deadliest, saw 67 high school students killed when arsonists set their overcrowded dormitory ablaze in the southern county of Machakos in 2001.

Education officials have ordered a safety audit of all public and private schools.

"The loss of these young lives is not going to be in vain. As a ministry, we have made the decision that this has to be the turning point," said Education Minister Julius Migos Ogamba, who attended the memorial.

Similar calls were made by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.

"These young souls, innocent young boys, our heart cries for them. When you look at them, they are innocent. They are no more," Gachagua said.

AFP