This archive report was first published on 26 September 2019.
Published on September 26, 2019, a disturbing incident of corporal punishment at Ngage Primary school in Tigania East, Meru county has left a 17-year-old boy with a permanent injury.
The Class Seven pupil was hit with a cane by a teacher who was enforcing a banned form of punishment, leaving him unconscious and with serious injuries to his penis.
According to the boy, he was being caned for failure to bring water for their earthen floors, and it was during this incident that the teacher hit him in the private parts.
The boy claims he was warned against reporting the matter to his parents, being intimidated with dire consequences that would affect his studies.
"I had to be carried to the head teacher's office where I spent hours regaining consciousness. After that, I was prevailed upon not to report to police the matter with the head teacher convincing me that all would be well. The teacher even promised to take me to hospital," he recounted.
Despite some pain killers, the boy's pain became unbearable, and he was treated at Mukothima health centre and further scans at Meru Level Five hospital showed that he was indeed injured.
His distraught mother decried the teachers' negligence and called on the Teachers' Service Commission to intervene, stating that she was shocked that a pupil can be injured at school and not taken to hospital or the parents informed of it.
