Kisumu: A primary school head teacher committed suicide in Nyakach, Kisumu County, after he was reportedly transferred against his will.
In his suicide note, George Oruongo, of Nyabondo Boys Boarding Primary School, cited frustration by education officials who he accused of forcing him out of a school he had headed for 11 years.
Grief gripped the school as news that Oruongo had hanged himself, just a day after he was transferred, trickled in.
His body was found hanging from a rope in the bathroom of his house within the school compound yesterday morning. He said he took his life after being frustrated by some local politicians and education officers.
Oruongo named top politicians and Teachers Service Commission (TSC) officials in his suicide note, who he accused of a witch-hunt that led him into committing suicide.
He said those he named had been frustrating his administration. The peak of this harassment, the note reads, is in the ongoing audit of primary schools.
“I have been frustrated by TSC and ministry (Education) officials both at the sub-county and county level, who ended up transferring me,” reads the note, which police say will form the basis of their investigation. Before taking his life, police said, Oruongo sent a text a message to a Kenya National Union of Teachers official in Nyando telling him his body would be found in his bathroom.
Tough time
“The official immediately called the area chief who informed the police. But the teacher was already dead by the time we got there,” Kisumu County police boss Titus Yoma said.
The body was taken to Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital mortuary. Yesterday, deputy headteacher Michael Osamba had a tough time restoring calm as furious Knut officials, teachers and parents trooped to the school on learning of the incident.
Mr Osamba said the deceased handed over to his successor Tom Okello on Wednesday and was to be received in his new school in Seme Sub-County yesterday.
“The handover was successful and we had planned to help him move to the new school today (yesterday). It has come as a shock to us as his colleagues and more so to the pupils he personally mentored,” said Osamba.
He described the deceased as a jovial and committed administrator who led the school to post some of the best results in the country. Last year, the school posted a mean grade of 393, the second best nationally among public schools.
Osamba urged parents not to withdraw their sons but to help rebuild the school.
“We have had some very trying times this year. But running away is not the solution. I urge parents to help encourage these pupils especially because Standard Eight candidates are expected to sit their KCPE exams,” he said.
The school has suffered two fires this year, in January and May. Nyando Knut Executive Secretary Onyango Kanala accused TSC of pushing the deceased to the wall.
