The Kenya Union of Post Primary Teachers (Kuppet) has come to the defence of the teacher who shamed a girl in Bomet for staining her dress during menstruation leading to her commit suicide.
The Daily Nation on Tuesday, September 24 reported that the union claimed that the decision by the Ministry of Education to suspend the teacher was rushed as investigations into the matter were still ongoing.
Kuppet vice-chairman Julius Korir noted that the government should not have sent the teacher on compulsory leave without the completion of investigations.
The teacher, identified as Jennifer Mutai, reportedly mocked the standard six at Kabiangek Primary School by calling her ''dirty'' in front of other pupils.
Kuppet insisted that the Korir said the claims levelled against Mutai were ridiculous.
"We issue a one-week ultimatum to the ministry to review the matter. The teacher should be made to resume her duties with immediate effect," Korir demanded.
The teachers spoke in Mogotio during their annual branch general meeting. They blamed the ministry for handling the case with malice.
They also faulted the ministry for not providing sanitary towels revealing that their only mandate was only to teach.
"This issue was beyond her [the teacher's] control and she should not be punished for something that's not her mistake. She just told the girl to go home as her clothes were soiled. We will not sit and watch as teachers are mistreated by the ministry," added Moses Ntaruma, secretary-general Kuppet Bomet branch.
The death of the 14-year-old standard six girl put the spotlight on the ministry's free sanitary programme for schoolgirls.
Jackline Chepng'eno committed suicide on Friday, September 6, after being sent home from school. Her teacher had told her to stand outside due to her soiled uniform.
She got home and narrated the whole ordeal to her parents then went ahead to hang herself using a leso she was carrying.
