Student attacks school staff and fellow students with machete

A Form Three student at Macumo Day Secondary School in Embu County went  hysterical and slashed a lab technician thrice on the head using a machete inflicting serious injuries on Friday.

A boy who went to rescue the technician ended up with a fractured hand, before other students overpowered the assailant.The technician, identified as Anthony Njuki, and the injured students were rushed to the Runyenjes sub-county hospital while the attacker was handed over to the police and is being detained at Runyenjes police station juvenile cells.

Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Embu branch chairman Dickson Mbarire said the student broke into the school store and marched out with the machete. He went after the principal but a keen teacher pushed her down and she missed the machete by inches. “We are informed that the boy then turned on the person next to him-the lab technician- and cut him thrice on the head. A brave Form Four student confronted him and wrestled him but fell and fractured his left hand,” said Mbarire.

Mbarire said the student had not been provoked by anyone, but was feared even by his colleagues for his temperament. He said there were fears that the attacker could have smoked bhang or used other drugs that led to his behaviour. “Cases of student attacking teachers are on the rise. Most teachers have opted to keep quiet for fear being ashamed how they would be attacked by students. They have nowhere to turn to. This must change,” he said.

The chairman said the principal who was shaken by the incidence had been transferred to the school this year as part of the delocalisation policy. Mbarire called upon the security agents to act seriously on such cases to protect teachers from being harmed by students who were not willing to be disciplined while others were abusing drugs. He also called on the Health and Education ministries to have a programme to test students to identify those abusing drugs so that they are taken to institutions that have capacity to handle them.

Mbarire further wants the Teachers Service Commission to compensate such teachers who are harmed in the course of their duties through the workman’s compensation policy, saying that has not been happening.