Students of Lugulu Girls High School held demonstrations on Tuesday over an alleged defilement case in the school. The students, who marched along the Webuye-Kitale highway, called out the school management for not taking action over the Saturday morning incident. The victim was taking a bath when an unknown man tried to defile her, and she raised an alarm, forcing the suspect to flee.
The school management was then informed of the incident and has failed to act. Learning was disrupted as the irate students marched to the Webuye Police Station calling for the arrest of the perpetrator.
Addressing the press at Webuye police station the students said that they were angered by the principal’s remarks over the incident saying she did not take any action and threatened to take measures against the witnesses. “After the morning incident our principal called us for a meeting and said that we should not tarnish her image since she wants to scoop and retain the principal of the year award this year,” said a student who sought anonymity.
The student further accused some male teachers in the school and some subordinate staff of sexually harassing them. However the students were addressed by the Bungoma County quality education assurance officer Caleb Omondi who pleaded with them to go back to school as the matter was being handled by the Education ministry, other relevant authorities and asked them to be present to write a report on the matter.
“When Lugulu girls suffers, the whole County suffers because we have great faith in you girls and so we want you all to be calm, go back to school and continue with your studies,” he said. Bungoma East police boss Valerian Obore asked the students who witnessed the case to feel free to present evidence and witness statements to police.
Bungoma residents and parents at the school led by Mukasa Kilwake condemned the incident saying that parents were disturbed by the incident and called for speedy probe into the matter. The students were later ferried back to school by the schools bus.