Elgeyo Marakwet: A Form Four student at Simotwo High School has been admitted to hospital with life-threatening injuries after he was beaten by teachers.
Anill Kimeli was taken to Eldama Ravine Hospital on Saturday by his father Ezekiel Kimekek after he traced him to a backstreet clinic on the outskirts of Eldoret town where it is alleged the school had attempted to hide him in an elaborate cover up.
The boy said 17 other students were injured after two teachers ordered the entire class of 56 to parade in the scorching sun for more than 30 minutes and then caned them with cypress twigs.
“They ordered all the students to lie on the ground for about ten minutes us other teachers rushed to the bush to collect dozens of sticks. Some of us thought we were going to die and really pleaded with them to spare us,” cried the boy.
When The Standard visited the hospital, the boy’s thighs were covered in white bandages and he had difficulty walking.
He said after the beatings, his thighs started bleeding and together with his classmates, he was rushed to hospital in one of the teacher’s vehicles.
The other students were treated at Simotwo Dispensary and allowed to return to school.
“They said they were taking us to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital but we were shocked after we ended up in a small hospital with one medical worker. In the evening, the two teachers who had accompanied us secretly took us to a private home,” he explained.
According to the shocked father, the house belonged to a brother of one of the implicated teachers.
“After I successfully traced my boy to the house, one of the teachers pleaded with me not to expose the matter and wanted us to solve it without involving the ministry (of Education) and journalists,” says the parent, who is also a member of the school board.
He said his son was given an anti-tetanus jab and pain killers at the unidentified facility.
Davis Mang’oli, the doctor who has been attending to the boy, described his condition as stable but said more time was needed for wound cleaning and bandage replacement.
The 17-year-old said he was locked inside the self-contained house as the teachers sourced food and drugs.
The father accused the school’s deputy principal, Silas Rono, of attempting to cover up the matter and demanded swift action against the teachers who caned the students.
Attempts to reach the school’s principal, Daniel Langat, were unsuccessful.
The father discovered that his son was unwell when he went to the school on Friday alongside his sister to check on his academic performance.
“They told me the boy had been injured and was undergoing treatment in Eldoret. But when I went there, I didn’t find him and called the principal who in turn arranged for a meeting at a local hotel where he spilled the beans. I was told to keep quiet but I said no,” he said.
He said on one of the occasions, the deputy principal trailed him along the Eldoret-Eldama Ravine road in the company of three other teachers and strongly warned him against reporting the incident to police.
However, he reported the incident at Eldama Ravine Police Station on Monday.
When we asked him, the deputy principal claimed the boy was a member of the school rugby team and was injured during a training session. However, when we probed further, he ordered us to leave his office.
“This is pure propaganda aimed at bringing our promising school down by dark forces. The issue at hand is not complicated to be addressed through the media,” Mr Rono said in the company of the teacher accused of battery
Human rights activist Samson Tim, urged Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i to intervene and have the teachers punished and the victims transferred to another school.
