Lugulu Girls shut as calls intensify for action on defilement claims
Lugulu Girls High School in Bungoma county has been indefinitely closed, following defilement claims at the institution last week.
The incident sparked demonstrations at the school on Monday and Tuesday as irate students demanded that the perpetrator be arrested.
The girls accused the principal, Dina Cheruiyot, of failing to take action and instead allegedly resorting to intimidation to cover up the matter.
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“Our principal instead of listening to our agony says that we should not soil the name of the school,” said one student.
Bungoma East Knut Secretary Aggrey Namisi, said the students were angered by the principal’s failure to report the matter to the police.
He said many students had previously complained about alleged sexual harassment by some teachers and subordinate staff but their lamentations fell on deaf ears.
“The students have been sent home and a communication will be made on when to resume classes after investigations have been conducted,” he said.
During the demonstration, the 306 candidates walked for more than six kilometres from the school to Webuye Police Station demanding the immediate arrest of the perpetrator.
The students who carried placards demanded justice for one of them (name withheld) aged 16, who had been allegedly defiled.
The student, they claimed, was defiled on Saturday morning while taking a birth in a bathroom at Muliro dormitory before going for morning preps.
The victim was immediately taken to the school’s sick bay where nurses administered first aid to her.
Yesterday, the Kenya Women Parliamentary Association chairperson Gathoni Wamuchomba called on the government to hasten investigations into the claims and arrest the perpetrator.
Speaking in Ruiru, Wamuchomba termed it as absurd, claims that the institution failed to listen to the defenceless girls.
“We are used to seeing school heads or their juniors accused of molesting learners transferred instead of being fired.
We have been transferring a problem from one region to the other and that must stop,” she said.
