Police in Kajiado have launched investigations after a Form One student was found dead at Almakutum Girls Secondary School.
Preliminary investigations indicate that the 17-year-old female student took her own life within the school compound in unclear circumstances.
Body found in septic tank
She was reported to have gone missing on Thursday evening before her lifeless body was discovered at the school septic tank at around 1:00 pm Friday.
According to a police report seen by K24 Digital, the incident was reported by a board member.
The report indicates that the student had always wanted to leave the school over poor performance.
The school principal Fatma Abdi Noor said a search for the deceased commenced during the evening preps after she was discovered to be missing in class.
“It is a sad day for us. We have lost one of us. As a school, we began searching for her when she was reported missing from class. We launched an intense search in all areas within the school until this afternoon when we noticed the septic tank had been tampered with prompting us to involve the emergency department to check. Unfortunately, we found her body inside,” the principal narrated.
She says the search within the school was informed by information from the guards on duty that no student had gone outside the school compound.
“The matter has been reported and is being handled by detectives,” she added.
Student’s body had no marks
The body, which was retrieved by a team from the Kajiado emergency department, had no visible marks.
The incident two days after a Form Three at Langalanga Secondary School in Nakuru reportedly took her own life after a teacher asked her to shave her hair.
Reports indicate that the teenager identified as Shamamcy Wanjiru committed suicide on Wednesday, September 28, 2022, at their home in Kaloleni.
Her family say, prior to the unfortunate occurrence, she had, among other students, been ordered to shave their hair, a decision her aunt (who was taking care of her following her mother’s death) supported.
This was to work as a punishment for allegedly unbraiding her hair on the closing day of the second term in mid-September.
They say after schools reopened, the teacher raised the same issue and asked her to be accompanied by her guardian the following day.
“Alikuja nyumbani Monday jioni akaambiwa na class teacher Tuesday asikuje shule akuje na mzazi sasa Wednesday wakaenda akaambiwa anyoe…. alikuja nyumbani akiwa na hasira nikamwambia anyoe akasema atajua vile atanyoa,” her relative told local media.
Loosely translated as “(She came home on Tuesday and informed me that their class teacher had asked her to be accompanied by her parents. On Wednesday, we went to school and the teacher said she has to shave her hair. She got very furious about it.)”
According to the family, Wanjiru left an apology letter to the said teacher before hanging herself.
