Police in Trans Nzoia is investigating an incident where a Grade five pupil at Namanjalala Primary School in Trans Nzoia county died after alleged punishment by his teacher on Friday.
Mike Wanjala 12, died at 11pm on Friday at Kitale County Hospital where he had been admitted in critical condition.
According to his classmates, the deceased was punished by their teacher, who ordered him to run around the school playground 13 times, as punishment after he allegedly broke a goalpost.
After the punishment, the deceased fainted and started vomiting blood, before the alleged teacher ordered the school security guard to take the boy home.
He was then taken to Kitale County Hospital by a neighbour Edith Juma since his parents had gone out for casual work.
“Mike was brought here by the school guard and he was vomiting blood so we decided together with another neighbour to rush him to the hospital as we informed the mother who was away,” said Ms Juma.
Catherine Wanjala, the mother of the deceased said she got to the hospital an hour later to find her son being attended to by doctors, but his condition was serious.
“My son was well when he left home for school in the morning. Why would a teacher punish a child like that? It is very painful to me as a mother and I want justice for my son,”
Following the incident, parents and residents staged demonstrations at the school, demanding the dismissal of the teacher and the head teacher.
The angry residents and parents accused teachers at the school of using corporal punishment on their children and called on the police to investigate the matter.
The incident came hot on the heels of another incident in Nandi county where two teachers are on the spot for allegedly causing the death of a Form One boy, whom they caned a week ago for cheating in a Physics exam.
