School director arrested over assault
By Harrison Kivisu
Police in Mombasa have arrested the director of Gremon Education Centre in Bamburi in connection with an incident in which a Standard Seven pupil is nursing grave injuries following assault.
Caleb Mwangi, 13, is fighting for his life at the Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital after he was reportedly assaulted by the director and other learners for allegedly stealing chapatis.
Mwangi was reportedly whipped using water pipes and scolded with hot water after he picked five chapatis instead of the required one during supper on January 23.
As a result, he sustained serious injuries that left his left kidney damaged.
Fresh details have emerged that the institution is registered as a secondary school and does not have requisite registration documents as required by law.
Police reined in the director, Nancy Gachewa and a teacher yesterday. They have been detained at the Bamburi Police Station for questioning and will be arraigned in court today.
Coast Regional Education Director Adan Hussein confirmed that the school will have to be closed and pupils in the primary section relocated to nearby institutions.
The institution was registered in 2014.
“We will have to close down the school because we have established issues of registration. It is registered as a secondary school and not primary. We are going to take serious administrative measures,” said Hussein.
Speaking at his office in Mombasa yesterday, Hussein said education officials have started drafting administrative recommendations that will be served to requisite institutions for implementation.
“We are in the final stages of making recommendations, because it is inhuman to see how the child was badly injured. We are looking at the image of the school, registration and we may be forced to close it,” Hussein added.
Extra chapatis
It is reported that the school director first whipped Mwangi before she instructed other learners to beat him up as a physical punishment for the “offence of taking extra chapatis.”
Speaking at the hospital yesterday, Mwangi’s parents, Agness Mwangi and Fredrick Ngare appealed for justice following the unfortunate incident that has left one of their son’s kidneys badly damaged.
“I was told that my son had served himself extra chapatis during dinner on January 23. They beat him and never reported the matter. Instead, they left him suffering until January 31 when I received a call that he is sick,” said Agness.
She claimed that her son sustained severe injuries because the school director instructed students to beat him, a matter that police have taken over to investigate.
“My son told me he was beaten by the director, who also instructed his colleagues to beat him up. This is a matter that should be treated as a criminal offence,” said Agness.
The bot’s father said his son is a humble boy who was progressing well with studies until the unfortunate incident.
The parents reported the matter at Kadzandani Police Station under OB No.25/30/1/22.
Agness said she received a call from an unknown caller on Sunday, notifying her that her son had been taken ill, prompting the parents to follow up on the matter immediately.
It is alleged that after the incident, the learners were under strict instructions not to report the matter to anyone.
However, information started leaking after some parents visited their children at the school.
A report from Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital Internal medicine registrar, Dr Nabil Varwani, confirmed that one of Mwangi’s kidneys was damaged and is now going to be placed on dialysis.
The situation is so dire that Mwangi’s private parts are also damaged.
“After medical attention, the blood picture shows Mwangi has sepsis with acute kidney injury, and multiple infected wounds. We are monitoring the infections,” said Dr Varwani.
Contacted, Gachewa distanced herself from the matter, saying she only learnt about the incident from the mother of the boy who came to the school after she was notified by unknown persons that his son was injured.
