Parents and guardian with students at Chumani secondary school were shocked on Sunday morning when they saw their children walking home.
Students walked as far as 20 kilometers with some going from Chumani secondary school to Kilifi town, Malindi and Watamu using the Malindi-Mombasa Highway.
The students are said to have gone on strike on Saturday 30 2023 and were allowed to leave the school compound at around 1 am in the morning without parents notification.
Many who spoke to Coast Times Digital said they could not believe seeing their children coming home in the morning around 3 am in the morning.
Asked by they opted going home at night after the school gate being opened for them, the students confided with Coast Times Digital that the deputy principal was a thorn in their legs.
They accused the deputy principal Obegi Justus who joined the institution recently of corporal punishment after their cry was heard by nobody in the school.
They claim that the deputy principal has been locking students in his office cane them thoroughly.
One of the parents who spoke to Coast Times said that the deputy principal behavior had forced students to urinate in buckets during Preps time for fear of students being seeing at washrooms and being beaten.
“Because of the concerns the students opted to strike peacefully and that is how the gate was opened and chased out of the school compound,” said the agitated parent.
It is claimed that during the incident when students were being chased out of the school, the deputy principal was in his house unmoved.
The parents claimed that after the incident parents were contacted and asked to ensure they take their children back to school on Monday 1 August 2023 with a Sh2500 fence fees despite there being nothing broken by students.
“Mzazi unafahamishwa kuwa wanafunzi wa bweni walitoroka shule usiku wa manane. Fahamisha shule kama mwanao amefika nyumbani. Wanafunzi wanaruhusiwa kurudi shule kuanzia kesho asubuhi (Monday August 1 2023) hadi saa tisa kwa masharti haya,” read the text message Coast Times Digital has obtained.
“Aandamane na mzazi,alipe Karo zote anazodaiwa,atoe Sh2500 za fence na afanye adhabu,” the text ended.
They were also asked to clear school fees and accept their children to be punished without a second thought.
“What is disturbing us is why the school management would allow children to go home at night without us being informed? In case of accident along the road who would be responsible. Where was the principal and deputy principal when all this was happening and why did they fail to contain the situation” she posed.
Effort to reach both the principal katana Joseph and his deputy Obegi Justus before going to publication were futile as our calls went unanswered.
