A 14-year-old student in Kwale County died two days after she was caned by her teacher Lydia Munyori.
Aisha Awadhi, the class seven pupil, had complained of a severe headache after the caning incident before she was hospitalized.
Her mother, Memsa Adbadallah, accused the teacher of caning her daughter to death since she had previously presented Aisha’s medical history to the school.
Memsa says the medical reports showed that her daughter suffered from sickle cell anemia and thus should not be beaten or given strenuous work.
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According to Citizen, an autopsy conducted showed that Aisha died from a blood clot as a result of a head injury.
However, the school principal Nassir Mwabweko says the beating could not have caused Aisha’s death.
The teacher is currently in custody, awaiting to be arraigned in court.
Cases of teachers caning students in Kenya have been reported over the years.
In January 2016, a teacher at Nyeri’s Githuga primary school surrendered to the police after a student died from corporal punishment. The school has, however, maintained that the boy was a sickly child and may not have died from the punishment.
In May 2016, a class six pupil died after a teacher at Kiserian Primary School beat her and pushed her against the wall for failing to pay her weekend tuition fee. The 11-year-old student collapsed and was immediately rushed to the St Mary’s Church Medical Center but was referred to Kenyatta National Hospital, where she died on arrival.
In February 2019, a 15-year-old boy at Mikuyuni Primary School, Makueni County, died after his teacher allegedly canned him. The boy’s mother says she was called by one of the teachers to inform her about the incident. She says her son was bleeding and foaming profusely while taking him to the hospital.