A Form 3 student at Kiangochi Secondary School in Murang’a East subcounty, Murang’a county, died by suicide on Wednesday.
The student was an orphan and lived with her grandmother and two of her siblings.
The girl is said to have feigned illness in the morning and declined to go to school before taking her life.
Chief Hannah Wanjiru said on Tuesday the girl was reportedly jovial when she was with her friends.
But when she got home, she was gloomy and sulked even further when her grandmother admonished her for spending too much time on her mobile phone.
She defiantly went to her bedroom, refusing to help prepare supper.
In the morning, the girl did not wake up in time for school and when asked why, she told her grandmother that she had the flu.
The grandmother left for the farm, but instructed the girl's sister-in-law to go and buy medicine at the shopping centre.
The chief said that upon returning at 11am, the sister-in-law found that the girl had locked herself in the house. She peeped through the window and was shocked to see her body dangling from the rooftop.
The girl is said to have informed her friends that she intended to take her life and that she was going through hardships in a relationship with unknown people.
She also bid goodbye to her friends on Facebook, saying she would no longer be with them from December 1.
“She even posted a crying emoji today in the morning and said goodbye,” the chief said, adding that she had developed a habit of going home late after school and that her grandmother’s admonishment fell on deaf ears.
The occurrence has left students in the school shaken and her friends had to be taken to a health facility to be calmed down.
Wanjiru appealed to parents to encourage dialogue with their children to know when they are going through hardships.
She also underscored the need for youths to speak out when one of their peers develops suicidal tendencies to avert such situations.
School deputy principal Ruth Wangari said they were informed of the incident at 2pm.
“It is unfortunate because the student did not have disciplinary issues. We are struggling to understand what could have caused such a young person to take her life,” she said.
Wangari said many young people seem not to understand that death is final and the preciousness of life.
Edited by A.N
