Kisii’s Nyabururu Girls School on the spot after teacher allegedly beats, injures student

Nyabururu Girls High School students band marches during a recent prize giving celebrations. The Kisii County national school is on the spot after a student was allegedly beaten and seriously injured by a teacher. PHOTO | AGGREY OMBOKI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • A source in school said the girl was severely caned last Sunday in a special room in the school commonly referred as the ‘slaughterhouse’.
  • The girl’s father, Mr Enock Nyanaro, was denied entry into the school on Tuesday.
  • This is despite seeking the intervention of officers from the Kisii Central Police Station.
  • Calls to the school Principal, Ms Ochenge, went unanswered.

A national girls' school in Kisii County is on the spot after a Form One student sustained severe injuries on her arm after she was allegedly caned by a teacher.

The Nyabururu Girls School student is said to have been punished, although the reason for the punishment was not immediately clear.

Pictures of a wound sustained by the girl have been circulating on social media since Monday.

A source in school said the girl was severely caned last Sunday in a special room in the school commonly referred as the ‘slaughterhouse’.

Efforts by the Nation on Wednesday to find out why she was punished were unsuccessful.

The girl’s father, Mr Enock Nyanaro, was denied entry into the school on Tuesday, even after seeking the intervention of officers from the Kisii Central Police Station.

Journalists and the four policemen who had accompanied him were also locked out with the guards saying they were under firm instructions not to open the gate to any stranger.

CALLOUS AND INSENSITIVE

Mr Nyanaro accused the school’s management of being callous and insensitive, adding that they have never bothered to inform him of his daughter’s situation.

“Nobody has bothered to notify me and this has forced me to come here from Nairobi. Worse still, I am locked out and cannot be granted access,” Mr Nyanaro said.

He said he only learnt of the matter through social media.

“I only got wind of the incident after I saw pictures of my daughter doing rounds in WhatsApp groups.

“All I want to know was how she is fairing,” he told journalists.

Mr Nyanaro said he will go to court to have the school compelled to allow him access his daughter.

A source at the school accused the school principal, Ms Elmelda Ochenge, of highhandedness.

STUDENTS UNDER PRESSURE

The source added that students in the national school are under pressure to deliver good results, forcing teachers to resort to corporal punishment to instil discipline.

Any teacher raising objections to the manner in which the students were handled risked being locked from promotions, the source said.

“Often we have found it difficult to protest because whenever we do so, we risk stagnating in one [job group] for long,” one of the teachers told the Nation by phone.

The teacher said that several other students, among them a Form Three student, are nursing injuries following similar incidents at the ‘slaughterhouse’.

“The parents of these students are often not informed and they [only] come to learn [about it] through social media,” the teacher said.

Education officers in the county were Wednesday holed up in a day-long meeting and efforts to reach them to get their comment proved futile.

Calls to the school Principal, Ms Ochenge, went unanswered.

She also did not respond to text messages sent to her phone.

Meanwhile, various local leaders expressed their anger following the incident.

Senate Minority Deputy Whip Janet Ongera condemned the school’s management for allowing corporal punishment.

"Corporal punishment not only tortures the student physically, but psychologically.

‘It is the most ineffective way of ensuring behaviour change among students," said Senator Ongera.

South Mugirango MP Manson Nyamweya called for a probe into the incident with view to taking appropriate action against the culprits.

“We have an education act that outlaws all forms of child abuse, among them corporal punishment.

“I appeal that investigations be done to ascertain the extent of the problem [in] the school so that proper action [is] taken”’ the MP said.

Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) executive committee member Geoffrey Mogire said they were yet to receive communication regarding the incident.

He, however, called for patience to allow education officers to undertake investigations into the matter.