CS Magoha demands report on Nairobi School bullying next week

Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. George Magoha has now ordered the principal of Nairobi School to table a report over allegations of bullying at the institution to his office next week.

The tough-talking CS, while addressing the press on Wednesday, further stated that school prefects do not have the prerogative to beat up or ‘discipline’ fellow students.

He further urged Kenyan school principals to take control of their institutions, adding that the report should also entail any necessary disciplinary action taken against any students found culpable.

“For the two schools in particular, Nairobi School and Sawagongo High School, I would want a report on my desk by next week as to why a child was battered in those schools. I would also want to know who did it and what action has been taken,” he stated.

“I know that there are people who are doing investigations but, on the parallel side, I would want to know very quickly from the people that we have entrusted with those children’s lives what the hell is going on there.”

The CS spoke a day after a 12-member team was appointed to probe an incident where a Form 2 student was allegedly beaten by prefects at Nairobi School.

The team, according to sources who spoke Citizen Digital, include officials from the Teachers Services Commission, the Nairobi regional education office as well as the Nairobi School principal himself.

The plight of the boy – who was reportedly beaten over a tie – was highlighted on Citizen TV Monday night, leading to more accounts of bullying in schools being shared.

The 15-year-old boy’s physical and mental condition led to him being withdrawn from the school and currently needs an urgent brain surgery, according to a consultant radiologist’s report.

Nairobi School has since said there was no report of assault on the boy by prefects at the institution, and that they also learned about it on social media.

The radiologist’s report after a CT head scan on Monday July 8, 2019, concluded that the boy has obstructive hydrocephalus; an accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain.

The disease typically causes headaches, double vision, poor balance, incontinence, personality changes and mental impairment.