Anin Girls Secondary School candidates were indefinitely suspended on June 25 and are yet to resume learning barely one month before the national exams start on November 4.
Yesterday, the students demanded to be allowed back to the institution to prepare for the national examinations, saying they were suspended on bizarre accusations, which the school has failed to prove.
According to one of the affected students, a school chaplain made the shocking allegations on June 24 when he came into their class for Christian Religious Education (CRE) lesson.
The agonised student told The Standard the chaplain, who is also a pastor in the school reported the matter to the school principal Ms Esther Kibor who suspended them a day later.
“The chaplain came into our class and said some two or three students are devil worshippers. I thought it was a joke. I never knew I was the target of the weird remarks,” the 17-year-old KCSE candidate said.
She said they were ordered to come back with parents for a disciplinary meeting but after the meeting, they were told to go back with their parents and wait for a response from the school.
“We are yet to be recalled. The school management has already ruined our reputation by the wild allegations. We are only asking to be allowed back to prepare for exams like other KCSE candidates across the country,” the devastated student said.
Another student, also suspended over a similar accusation claimed they were denied textbooks, making it difficult for them to prepare for the KCSE tests at home.
“The school held our books. They later released our exercise books but withheld the textbooks given by the ministry of education earlier in the year,” she said.
Disowned students
Their parents were equally disturbed by the devil-worshipping allegations and accused the school of remaining silent about the accusations labelled against the children.
The parents said the school located in Keiyo North constituency is yet to explain what led to the conclusion that their daughters were worshipping the devil.
Simon Chesesio, a parent to one of the suspended students said: “I was going about my business and I was called by the school. When I arrived I was told my daughter is a devil worshipper. I did not believe it because my daughter has behaved well since 2001 when she was born.”
Chesesio said he was told to take her daughter out of school for prayers and he took her to Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in Eldoret to be prayed for by a priest in compliance with the school orders.
“I also took her to a professional counsellor for counselling,” he said.
The parent said, together with parents of the other two students, they were called for a meeting that lasted an entire day on July 30 only to be told to return home with the children.
When contacted, Ms Kibor, the school principal declined to comment and disowned the students, saying she was not aware of such candidates in her institution.
Threatened teachers
But school Board of Management (BoM) chairman Andrew Kipchoge said he was aware of the matter, noting that the students were found with paraphernalia associated with Illuminati.
Kipchoge, however, did not give details on the said paraphernalia.
“The students appeared before a disciplinary committee and confessed, in the presence of their parents that they were devil worshippers,” the board chair said.
He said the students may face expulsion for threatening to harm teachers during the period they have been on suspension.
Kipchoge claimed that some of the students sent threatening text messages to some teachers including the school chaplain and the matter was referred to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
