Fees row: Student attacks, injures Ainamoi Secondary School principal
Mr Geoffrey Rono, the Ainamoi Secondary School who was attacked and injured by a student on June 9, 2021.
A secondary school principal in Kericho County was attacked and seriously injured by a student over a school fees balance row.
The Ainamoi Secondary School student ambushed Mr Geoffrey Rono at his office on Wednesday evening and hit him with a plank of wood in the head.
“Preliminary investigations indicate that the student attacked the teacher at around 6pm at his office and fled after inflicting serious head injuries,” a senior police officer at Ainamoi Police Station told Nation.Africa on Thursday.
He added, “We are looking for the culprit who did not report back to his parents’ home after the incident,”
The weapon used in the attack has been recovered.
Mr Rono was taken to a private hospital in Kericho town while bleeding profusely where he was treated and later discharged.
It is claimed that the principal had sent the student home to collect the school fees balance only for the learner to return to the institution in the evening and attack the teacher.
The institution’s bursar is said to have responded to the principal’s distress calls after the attack that has shocked the local community.
Mrs Mary Rotich, the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Kericho branch secretary condemned the incident and demanded that action be taken against the culprit.
“There is a need for the government to protect principals and teachers in learning institutions,” said Mrs Rotich.
She said teachers should be given comprehensive medical cover.
“The teaching profession is increasingly becoming a risky undertaking, thus the need for the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to introduce job related risk allowances for their employees,” said Mrs Rotich.
She said that the Ministry of Education should employ professional counsellors and post them to schools across the country to offer their services to the learners and curb an escalation of incidents.
A number of teachers across the country have in the last seven months been injured by students after the learning institutions were re-opened after a long holiday occasioned by the Covid-19 outbreak.
Learners were exposed to drugs and criminal activities during the holiday.
A number of female students also fell pregnant during the holidays, but were re-admitted to the learning institutions following a directive from the Ministry of Education.
