Fury as head teacher stops girl from sitting for exams over Sh2,000 ‘theft’
Kibumbu Primary School in Tharaka Nithi County where a KPSEA candidate was denied a chance to sit for Mathematics paper on claims that she stole Sh2,000 belonging to a teacher.
What you need to know:
- Boda boda operators found the girl crying at the school gate.
- They pleaded with Ms Chabari to allow her to sit for the tests, promising to raise the money and pay her by Tuesday.
A Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) examination candidate at a school in Tharaka Nithi County missed the mathematics paper on claims that she had stolen Sh2,000 from a teacher.
Ms Hellen Njeri Chabari, school head teacher at Kibumbu Primary School, insisted that the girl would only sit for the examination if she paid the money that the girl allegedly stole towards the end of the last term.
Boda boda operators found the girl crying at the school gate. They pleaded with Ms Chabari to allow her to sit for the tests, promising to raise the money and pay her by Tuesday.
But Ms Chabari insisted she needed the money before the girl could enter the examination room.
Journalists who heard about the girl from the motorcyclists also unsuccessfully urged Ms Chabari to allow her to sit for the tests, though they promised to pay the money later in the day.
“I will only allow the girl to sit for the examination after payment of the Sh2,000 she stole,” Ms Chabari maintained.
The desperate girl went back home and returned to the school with her mother, but the head teacher still insisted that the money had to be paid first.
The frustrated girl went back home with her mother, but later disappeared, prompting her mother and other villagers to search for her, fearing that she could take her own life.
Second paper
It took the intervention of County Director of Education Bridget Wambua for the girl to sit for the second paper, after she was found sitting in a nearby bush crying.
“My officers have handled the matter and the girl is already doing the examination,” Ms Wambua said.
The girl’s mother said her daughter was sent away from school and that she was still looking for the money but she thought the head teacher would allow her daughter to at least sit for the examination.
“I would have paid the money for my daughter to remain in school and sit for the examination without all these problems, but I am a single mother and have other children in school and I have no job,” she said.
She noted that though the girl denied stealing the money, she never supported her or dismissed the teacher’s complaint, and that she apologised and promised to pay back the money.
Mr Kevin Murithi and Martin Munene, the boda boda operators who found the girl crying at the gate, said they would still raise the Sh2,000 and pay the teacher by tomorrow.
“I passed the girl at the gate and saw her crying as I dropped off a customer at a nearby house,” Mr Murithi said.
“When I came back and still found her there, that is when I inquired what was wrong and after she narrated her story, I called my colleagues and we promised to pay the teacher but she asked the police officer at the examination centre to throw us out.”
