Why school in Kitui is demanding bags of mangoes, iron sheets from former students
Several form four leavers from a school in Kitui county risk missing their places in various universities for failure to supply the school with bags of mangoes and iron sheets as punishment for offenses they committed while still in the school.
The school, Muthale Girls’ Secondary School, has withheld the results slips and leaving certificates of the students in question until they provide the said requirement.
One of the affected students, Juliet Kathambi, 18, managed an average grade of B Plus in last year’s KCSE, but her results slip and leaving certificate are being held by the school’s administration.
Hence, she might miss her place at the University of Nairobi where she has been selected to pursue a degree course in Nursing.
The school is demanding that her parent supplies the institution with 3 bags of mangoes and 7 iron sheets for them to access the documents.
Juliet’s mother Marietta Musyawa Kitoo, who is a single parent, said that her daughter was punished after she was caught peeping through the classroom window and eating mangoes plucked from the school farm.
CRUCIAL DOCUMENTS
“When my daughter came home after completing her examination, I observed that she was somehow depressed. Upon inquiry from her she told me of the punishment. Each student was required to bring 3 bags of mangoes and 7 iron sheets after they were caught peeping through the window,” narrated Ms Kitoo.
She says all her efforts to plead with the school’s new Principal to issue her with her daughter’s results slip fell on deaf ears, with the school head saying that she had inherited everything from her predecessor, including cases of the affected students.
“I pleaded with the new principal to just forgive my daughter and issue me with the documents, but she turned down my pleas,” she said.
The single mother claims that she has incurred a lot of expenses in making several trips from Makindu in Makueni where lives to the school in Kitui, in a bid to convince the school to reduce the punishment.
She said that although the school gave them the alternative of bringing oranges and avocados in place of mangoes, which are off season, the prices of these fruits are too expensive for her as she is also paying school fees for her two other children.
The parents are now pleading with the ministry of education to intervene and help them access the crucial documents for their children.
Efforts by this writer to reach Muthale Girls’ School head for comments proved futile.