State House Girls, parents trade jabs over bullying claim

A Form One student at State House Girls High School is being treated at a Nairobi hospital after she was allegedly forced to swallow a liquid detergent by bullies at her school.

The student started complaining of stomach aches and breathing difficulties yesterday morning. Her parents took her to Metropolitan Hospital in Buruburu.

The parents were given prescriptions and returned home with their daughter as they tried to raise Sh15,000 so the hospital could scan her intestines for corrosion.

Shortly after 5.30pm, the girl’s condition deteriorated and she was taken back to the hospital.

A doctor at Metropolitan Hospital told the Nation that she had drunk the detergent on Wednesday, but he had not been shown the medication she had been given on Wednesday and Thursday.

But State House Girls Principal Joan Muoti poked holes in the narrative the girl has been presenting regarding her ordeal at the school. She said the student had failed to name the alleged bullies despite claiming that it was the second time she had been tormented.

Ms Muoti said that when the girl left school with her father on Friday evening, she was in good health.

“She told me personally she was okay. She was from the farm on an agriculture lesson because her shoes were dusty when she came to my office.”

Ms Muoti said the student had previously said she wanted to be transferred from the school.

DRINK LIQUID

The student had told her parents and doctors that she had been forced to drink the liquid by girls who held her by the neck. The principal said it looked like “soap when put in water then stirred.”

Ms Muoti was shown the bottle from which the student was allegedly forced to drink at around 7.15am on Wednesday when two prefects came to her with the Form One girl.

“They told me that the student had called them, telling them that she had been bullied while hanging her clothes on the washing line at 6.3am,” said the principal.

“So, I asked the student, ‘Who bullied you?’ She said she didn’t see. I asked, ‘Why didn’t you see and there’s light at 6am?’ But she said they attacked her from behind and then made her drink something. The prefect was holding a small Jik bottle.

"But what was inside the bottle didn’t look like Jik because it looked a little thick,” the school head added.

She said the student was given milk by the school cateress and then taken to the school dispensary before being then to Iran Medical Clinic in Nairobi.

After taking her medication, she reportedly told the principal that she was fine and attended classes until Friday.

INTERNAL ORGANS

“On Friday, she came and told me she wanted to go home. She said she was feeling well but wanted to talk to her father. The father came, was given a leave-out and left with the child. We advised that they go and talk. The student was calm and okay.”

At Metropolitan Hospital, however, the doctor who examined the girl said that because it had been two days since she allegedly drank the detergent, the impact had subsided but it still posed a risk to her internal organs.

The principal is convinced that the case illustrates a phenomenon where girls who have been in private primary schools find it hard to cope at a public secondary school and try to go back to the familiar.

“My research has shown me that many children who come from private schools don’t adapt easily to public schools life. Most of them look for excuses so that they’re transferred.”

“When a child says that she doesn’t want the school, we tell them to say they want a transfer instead of creating stories around the school and we shall release you. After all, we’re too congested. When they want to go to another school, we’ll be happy to release them,” she said.