Two teachers arrested for assaulting Nyamninia Secondary school student

Police in Yala, Siaya county are investigating an incident where a male Class 8 pupil of Nyamninia Primary School was allegedly assaulted by two teachers for failing to score 400 marks.

This was after a viral video surfaced online showing a class eight boy lamenting and showing injuries inflicted by his teacher after he failed to score at least 400 marks.

The Nyamninia school pupil was captured complaining and contemplating dropping out of school after being whipped brutally for failing to get the set score, leaving him with visible marks all over his back.

Education cabinet secretary Professor George Magoha condemned the incident saying that corporal punishment remains unlawful after being banned in 2001. Addressing the media after inspecting CBC classes at Wagwere Mixed Secondary School on Saturday, Magoha said the culprits who are currently being held at Yala police station must face the full force of the law.

“Corporal punishment in schools has been outlawed by the Kenyan constitution. Any teacher who does it should know that they are on their own. The Nyamninia case is pathetic because any trained teacher who learnt pedagogy should know that you cannot cane a child to make them perform better,” Magoha said.

He revealed that the law only allows a teacher to lay their hands on a child in a case of self defense. “The only instance where a teacher can touch a child is in a case of self defense where the child is threatening to harm the teacher because some of our children are rowdy and maybe tempted to injure our teachers,” The CS added.