• Parents accused school head of mismanagement and camped at the gate to ensure no pupil learning went on
• The pupils stayed away on Friday
Pupils at Kwa-Katile Primary School in Kyuso, Kitui, resumed learning on Monday after a turbulent first week of the third term.
Their parents stormed the school on Monday last week to stop learning. They demanded the transfer of headteacher Andrew Ndithya. They accused him of mismanagement and camped at the gate to ensure no pupil or teacher got into the compound.
The parents only allowed normal operations on Wednesday after education authorities ordered the headteacher to leave. However, chaos reigned again on Thursday when they learnt deputy headteacher Edward Mailu had taken over from Ndithya. They invaded the school and ordered teachers and the 178 pupils out.
The pupils stayed away on Friday even as five parents were arrested and held at Kyuso police station over the fracas. They were later released on Sh5,000 police bond each and asked to appear in court on Tuesday.
On Monday, learning went on smoothly. “The unfortunate dramas of last week have now subsided. They were just antics of hired idle goons,” Mailu said on the phone.
The parents had accused Ndithya of misappropriating funds, disrespecting them, occasioning poor performance in KCPE exam and neglecting the school, which they said was unhygienic.
But Ndithya on Monday dismissed the claims as a mere witch-hunt. He said he had refused to bend to their demands to fiddle school funds.
“Since 2011, they vowed to punish me by ensuring that I'm removed from the school. The unfortunate part is that they do not know it is not that easy to get a teacher moved from one school to the other. That is strictly under the purview of the Teachers Service Commission,” he said.
(Edited by F'Orieny)