Cardinal Otunga Girls High School has sent home 18 students on suspension following allegations of mobile phone possession and engaging in what the school termed “inappropriate” dancing.
Some sources have associated the dancing with lesbianism. The suspension letters are dated September 28 and were handed to the students on Thursday.
Parents, who wished to remain anonymous, disclosed that their children had previously faced suspension on September 18 and were later summoned for a disciplinary hearing on September 28. During this hearing, parents claimed that their children were subjected to harassment and coercion to admit to the allegations.
“At the hearing, students were harassed, forced to accept the allegations. Imagine a teacher threatening a child that ‘if you annoy me I will hit you.’ Some of them ended up accepting what was not true,” one parent recounted.
The school administration has instructed parents to take their children home on an indefinite suspension, with further communication from the school board promised at an unspecified date. Another parent questioned the school’s judgment, stating, “They had entertainment during a weekend, and were dancing. Has the ministry set up standards on how students should dance?”
Sources indicate that nearly 14 of the suspended students are form four candidates who are scheduled to sit for their national exams in a few weeks. This indefinite suspension has left parents deeply concerned about whether their daughters will be able to participate in these critical exams.
“We are confused, disturbed by the move that the school has taken. The psychological torture that our students are facing is deep; they have been subjected to shame and uncertainties,” voiced one parent.
Citizen TV also captured footage of numerous students leaving the school premises on Thursday. When contacted for comment, school principal Mrs. Christine Sifuna initially declined to provide a statement, citing a prior commitment. In a follow-up text message, she replied with a terse “Not true,” offering no further elaboration.
