Nairobi School on the spot after student allegedly assaulted by prefects

Nairobi School on the spot after student allegedly assaulted by prefects

A Form 2 student at Nairobi School is facing urgent brain surgery after he was allegedly assaulted, a consultant radiologist’s report has revealed.

The 15-year-old boy’s physical and mental condition have led to him being withdrawn from the school following an alleged beating by prefects at the institution.

Nairobi School has since denied the assault allegations but reports reaching Citizen Digital indicate that the Ministry of Education is already probing the matter.

The lid was first lifted by a conversation began by popular Facebook personality Ndung’u Nyoro on Monday morning of a mother complaining about her child, who is a student at the institution, being unwell.

According to screenshots of texts sent by the woman to a WhatsApp group, she went to pick up the boy and found him looking dirty and unkempt as he had lost most of his school uniform.

“We have to supervise him even as he eats and brushes his teeth. He is even back to peeing in bed, something he had never done. He has gone mute and can’t even near the prefects who beat him,” she wrote.

The responses in the WhatsApp group were overwhelming with one of the parents asking the others to encourage their boys to open up, adding that they hide so much and are traumatized.

The parents further added that they intend to take legal action against the school after a thorough medical examination.

To peel back the layers behind the story, Citizen TV visited Nairobi School to understand what happened and to get their side of the story.

The Principal could not give an interview on camera, but mentioned that the student in question had been attended to at the school’s health facility.

According to the Principal, the boy had shown signs of weakness and was withdrawn and that when he did not respond to the antibiotic treatment, his parents were called in to take him for better treatment elsewhere.

To the best of the school’s administration’s knowledge and admission, there was no report of assault, and that they (school) also learned about it on social media.

The student’s mother, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the medical examination has taken a heavy toll on the family.

The boy – she says – is dazed, has to wear diapers, does not recall his siblings and takes too long to respond to his name.

His classmates stated that his behaviour changed about 1 and a half weeks ago, adding that he was disoriented and would go to the wrong class and not be in full school uniform.

The boy – according to the school’s clinician – seemed that he had been beaten continuously, with the last probable beating being on Friday.

When the boy’s parents mentioned that they would not take him back to the same school, he opened up saying a prefect slapped him and beat him up because he did not have a tie and had no idea where it was.

In addition, he said he has been beaten since he was in Form 1, and that a classmate of his had had his arm fractured by prefects in the school.

The school administration has however strongly refuted this, adding that prefects are elected by students.

A consultant radiologist’s report after a CT head scan on Monday July 8, 2019, concluded that he 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.

Further tests will ascertain what really happened to him and whether this was directly due to assault; more specifically head injury.

The Ministry of Education has moved in to investigate this case and more similar claims from other parents.

But the question remains: just how safe are students in boarding schools especially when – and if – the perpetrator of violence is another student?

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assault Bullying in school Nairobi School CT scan prefects

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