This archive report was first published on 26 September 2019.
September 26, 2019, marked a day of unimaginable pain for a 17-year-old schoolboy in Tigania East, Meru county. The Class Seven pupil at Ngage Primary school was subjected to brutal corporal punishment by a teacher who left him with serious injuries to his penis.
According to the boy, he was among a group of students being caned for failing to bring water for their earthen floors. The enraged teacher, who was caning both boys and girls on their behinds, hit him in the private parts, leaving him unconscious.
The boy claims he was warned against reporting the matter to his parents, being intimidated with dire consequences that would affect his studies. He recounted, '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.'
However, the pain became unbearable, and the boy finally revealed the ordeal to his parents. He said, 'Whenever I urinate, I feel pain. The organ is swollen and the pain became unbearable despite some pain killers that I have been taking.'
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, saying, 'I was so shocked that a pupil can be injured at school and is not taken to hospital or the parents be informed of it. The nature of injury is not something to joke with since it can render him infertile.'
