Class Six Girl Dies After Being Caned In School
According to her classmates, the 12-year-old girl identified as Mary Wambui had gone to fetch water when the teacher began caning her, hitting her head in the process.
Marvin Chege 
A class six girl on Thursday, February 18 succumbed to her injuries after a teacher reportedly beat her to death in Gitithia Village, Kiambu County.
According to her classmates, the 12-year-old girl identified as Mary Wambui had gone to fetch water when the teacher began caning her, hitting her head in the process.
Mary returned home from school experiencing a headache where her mother took her to a hospital thereafter. According to Elizabeth Wanjiku, Mary's mother, the girl was then taken for x-ray imaging to help medical personnel assess her condition.
They were then sent to Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi where she was hospitalized after her condition worsened before doctors could diagnose the cause of the deterioration.
Mary's condition grew worse and passed on three weeks later.
Hospital records revealed that Mary suffered from blunt force trauma to the head confirming the reports made by her classmates. This prompted parents and residents of the village to angrily storm the primary school demanding justice for the death of the class 6 girl.
"The child was clearly hit because she has never had any health problems since her birth. Her medical issues began after she was hit, which led her to her death," stated Joseph Ndung'u, the deceased's uncle.
Lari Member of County Assembly (MCA) Joseph Karichu urged authorities to investigate the incident failure to which they would take matters into their own hands.
"I ask the DPP, DCI, and the Police to quickly investigate this case. We have given them two days to give us answers. If we don't get the answers we seek, we as parents and residents of Gitithia will take matters into our own hands," noted the MCA.
Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha had opposed on January 31, 2021, the reintroduction of caning in schools, but faced stern opposition from the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) despite the rise of indiscipline cases in schools.
“We are not going to accept the return of corporal punishment where teachers can put in conflict to tame learners, what will happen if it will be returned, let a police officer be posted to every school to caning the learners. It will be dangerous particularly on teenagers,” said KNUT Secretary-General Wilson Sossion.
