Enock Kipkoech, a schoolboy from Kericho County, died as a result of wounds he sustained as a result of a teacher’s punishment.
The family of the student has asked the authorities for help and for the perpetrator to be brought to justice.
The 14-year-old student was discovered dead at St Teresa Primary School in Kericho, where he attended school.
The Standard 8 student was badly assaulted by a teacher in the staff room, according to information shared on K24, and was later discovered dead in the hostel.
The family claims that on September 26, 2022, their son Enock Kipkoech reported for the third term at St Teresa primary school in good health.
His mother and father painfully recounted events leading to their son’s death.
The pupil was allegedly instructed to relocate from his class while having their exams but would later return his locker to his class after the exams.
This supposedly upset the teacher in question who demanded that he proceed to the staffroom for punishment.
His peers heard the student’s cries as he left the staffroom.
“The said teacher followed him in class and demanded that he goes straight to the dormitory and take bath only to be found dead at around 4:00 pm hanging by a noose,” the boy’s father Richard Siele said.
The mother of the desease claimed that the boy had called her and asked her that he wanted to transfer from the school.
“Kipkoech had asked the school to allow him to call me that fateful day but he was turned down. Previously, he had asked us to transfer him from the said school due to corporal punishment but I had insisted that he finishes this third term. I did not know it would result in his death,” the boy’s mother Emily Siele said.
Police are looking into the crime, according to Kericho County DCI officer Rhoda Kanyi.
As investigations continue, human rights advocates led by Kimutai Kirui of the Centre Against Torture have called for the arrest of the teacher who brutally punished Kipkoech as the primary suspect in his death. They have denounced the high number of unsolved school deaths.
“There are many unresolved murder cases happening in our schools and parents have been left on their own. The Ministry of Education seems helpless in ensuring the safety of our children who are in boarding schools. We want those behind the death of Kipkoech to be arrested and arraigned in court,” Kimutai said.
