From left: Some of the learners who died in school Emmanuel Kirimi Kaimenyi (Kilungu Boys Secondary), Liam Kipruto (Goodrich International School), Brian Gori (Riokindo Secondary School), Joy Kahanya (Tumu Tumu Girls High School) and Baby Angelina Njoki Gachemi (Lily Academy).
When a learner dies in school, parents are left with many unanswered questions.
For the past 43 days, Nation has tracked down cases where children who were last seen by their parents doing well were later reported dead. The causes of their deaths remain unclear or unconvincing.
Joy Kahanya; Tumu Tumu Girls High School, Nyeri
Joy Kahanya, a 14, a Form One student in Tumutumu Girls High School in Nyeri passed away on Monday morning after complaining of severe chest pains and a headache the previous night.
The Form One student died last week after she complained of severe chest pains and a headache. There is a disagreement between the management of the school and the parents of the 14-year-old over the date the minor fell sick.
Her father, John Kahanya, received a phone call informing him that his daughter was unwell on Monday, February 12.
He, together with his wife, rushed to the hospital only to find that she had died. The previous day, she had gone to the school’s dispensary where she was given some medicine.
That night, Joy was reportedly so weak that she could not change her clothes and slept in her school uniform. Before she slept, she informed one of her friends to wake her up the following morning at 4.30am.
The following morning, the friend tried to wake her up but she was unresponsive.
A police report at Tumutumu Police Station shows that the school reported the incident on Monday at 7.15 am. Mathira West Sub-county police boss Pixley Musyoki said detectives are interested to know the time and cause of death of the minor.
Brian Gori; Riokindo High School
Brian Gori a student at Riokindo Secondary School who's death last week has put the institution on the spot.
The parents of Brian Gori feel their son would today be alive if the management of Riokindo Secondary School in Bomachoge Borabu, Kisii County had informed them that he was unwell.
Did the Form One student fall sick on Wednesday, January 31 or on the night of Friday, February 2 before dying on Saturday 3? This is the puzzle as they said that their son revealed a lot some moments before he breathed his last. His father, Evans Gori, told Nation at Kenyenya Police Station who were handling the case had refused to reveal how his death was reported.
He said that the information he was given by the principal Mr Gerald Orina differed with what his son said a few minutes before he died.
“At school, I was told that my son fell ill on Friday night and died the following morning but before my son died he told his mother that he had been ill since Wednesday,” he said.
Kisii County police boss Charles Kesses said the matter was under investigation.
Liam Kipruto; Goodrich International School
Liam Kipruto, who was run over by a school bus.
On Friday, February 9, Mercy Nelima bid goodbye to her son Liam Kipruto. Little did she know that it would be the last time she was seeing him alive.
Liam died exactly nine hours after he left their home in Katani, Machakos County. She said Liam was run over by the school bus and no one has been willing to provide details of what transpired.
On the fateful day, Ms Nelima had left her phone in the house charging and she spent the better part of the day with her sister. However, in the evening she got concerned when she did not receive a call from the school informing her that they had already dropped the son at home.
When she realised that it was getting late, she asked her sister to call the school. Kipruto’s class teacher informed them that the pupils had left school as usual.
“Moments later, the class teacher called my sister’s phone number and insisted that he wanted to talk to me. When I was given the phone, he informed me that my son had been involved in an accident,” Ms Nelima said. She boarded a motorcycle taxi and rushed to the scene.
Mercy Nelima (centre) is comforted by relatives and friends while viewing the body of her son Liam Kipruto at Shalom Hospital in Athi River on February 11. Liam was run over by a bus belonging to Goodrich International School in Katani, Machakos County.
“The first thing I spotted was my son’s school bag before I saw him covered using a piece of cloth. That is when it hit me that my son had died,” she said.
Crying uncontrollably, she tried to ask the class teacher to share details of what happened but they were not willing to speak. As this was happening, the headteacher, Mr Peter Otieno Awino, arrived with police officers, who took Liam’s body to the Shalom Hospital mortuary.
Emmanuel Kirimi Kaimenyi; Kilungu Boys Secondary School
Emmanuel Kirimi Kaimenyi a Form One student who died at Kilungu Boys Secondary in Makueni County.
When a Form One student at Kilungu Boys Secondary School in Makueni County died suddenly in January, there was grief and pandemonium.
Emmanuel Kirimi Kaimenyi had been admitted to the school only 10 days earlier and is said to have been taken ill on the morning of Thursday, January 25, and rushed to Kilungu Sub-County Hospital, where he was dead on arrival.
There was talk that the student may have been a victim of excessive bullying at the school.
The principal, Mr Geoffrey Muema, and the school’s board of management led by the chair Kennedy Malinda, were at pains to calm an anxious school community especially parents who were worried about the safety of their children.
Detectives rejected explanations given by both the school and Ministry of Education officials and went ahead to transfer the body of the student to the Chiromo mortuary without notifying the school.
A post-mortem exam done at Chiromo on February 2 has since ruled out foul play and exonerated the school after establishing the student's death was a result of natural causes.
The student has since been buried after the family concerns were fully satisfied, but the school was left reeling from unprecedented shock and trauma among other students.
Triza Naliaka; Mokoywet Primary School
Triza Naliaka, 12, went missing on November 24, 2023. She was studying at Mokoywet Primary School in Trans Nzoia County. She had sat her Kenya Primary School Education Assessment examinations. For two months, she was not seen until when schools were reopened and her body was found dumped inside one of the classrooms.
Surprisingly, during that period, the parents of the minor never reported what transpired. On January 10, when a foul smell was discovered emanating from the Early Childhood Development Centre, the school was closed and detectives were called. A spokesperson of the family, Cosmas Muliro, said the minor’s clothes helped them to identify her.
Baby Angelina Njoki Gachemi; Lily Academy
Lily Academy pupil Angelina Njoki Gachemi.
Two weeks ago, a nine-year-old pupil at Lily Academy drowned during a swimming lesson at school. She had been at the school for just a month.
According to parents at the school, the pupil was amongst others who were swimming in a pool located in the institution's compound.
The class teacher only realised that one of the pupils was missing after her classmates said they had left her inside the pool. Police said that investigations are ongoing.
Additional reporting by Kitavi Mutua and Mercy Mwende
