The teacher who assaulted a 9-year-old Grade Four pupil at Riangómbe Primary Boarding School in Nyamira County has been arrested.
Nyamira North Sub-County Deputy County Commissioner (DCC) Malack Namai confirmed to the press yesterday that Jackson Marucha who unlawfully administered brutal corporal punishment to the Grade Four pupil on Sunday leaving him with deep body wounds and blood clots on his backside has been arrested.
The DCC said they learnt about the incident from social media early Thursday morning and immediately started investigations on the whereabouts of the teacher for necessary lawful actions on him.
"The incident is regrettable, and there is no amount of pressure which will deter us from executing our mandate to punish this particular teacher who did this traumatizing injustice to this young and innocent pupil,” Namai stated.
He explained that Children’s Act 2022 Section 25 states that Kenya formally repealed the right to parents and any other person to administer corporal punishment and therefore granted that every child has the right to freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment.
He said the teacher and any other person discovered during the investigations to have neglected his duty concerning this particular case will be held culpable and face the full force of the law.
"Problems cannot be solved using violence since such inhuman acts remain in the child’s memory for his entire life. This assault incident has traumatized the baby and left lifetime scars on this innocent child’s body. As the county administrators, we shall not condone any form of corporal punishment to school-going children, instead, school administrators must use guidelines stipulated by the Ministry of Education (MOE) on how to administer punishment to erring learners," Namai warned.
The officer pointed out that there were so many humane ways of punishing a pupil and nurture them in the correct manner because schools are meant to be safe places for all school-going children where they freely interact with everyone within that environment to learn and grow into responsible mature Kenyan.
"I have advised the County Director of Education (CDE) to organize a meeting with all school head teachers and principals to be brought to speed on what the country’s regulations and operational laws are concerning children's upbringing, their rights, responsibilities and their role and extent of correcting their delinquent behaviour while in school," the DCC hinted.
He appealed to all school stakeholders especially parents and the community in Borabu sub-county where the school is situated to remain calm seek proper channels to deal with their grievances, and leave their children at peace to continue with their normal learning as they deal with the teacher who assaulted the pupil. Any other person who neglected his duty to protect this child from assault.
The pupil was assaulted by his teacher on Sunday at Riang’ombe Primary Boarding School staffroom after he reported that his uniform was missing from the hanging lines.
The rogue teacher subjected the pupil to 107 strokes after calling other students to help him pin down the minor.
The helpless pupil urinated on himself and was left with deep wounds on his backside and limping. When the teachers at the school realised the extent of the injuries, they locked the pupil in his dormitories with no medical attention and concealed what transpired to protect the rogue teacher.
Information about his situation leaked to the pupil’s brother who had visited the school to check on his sibling. The young man was informed by his brother's classmates what happened.
He informed his father who called their uncle to head to the school to check what happened.
"I asked my brother how he had known about the injury of his son. He told me that our last-born brother happened to be around Manga where some sports were going on. He said that since the school is within the vicinity, he decided to go and visit him," his uncle stated.
"The boy is unable to walk. He cannot sit up. The teachers conspired to manipulate us not to expose this issue, claiming the boy was injured slightly and that he was getting well. They claimed that the assailant had apologised and that it was necessary to protect him from losing his job," he added.
The minor was rushed Nyamira County Referral Hospital where he was treated and discharged.
