The Ministry of Education has opened a formal investigation into a harrowing incident of alleged corporal punishment at Maikona Girls Secondary School in North Horr Constituency, Marsabit County. The incident, which has drawn widespread national outrage, left 36 students injured after they were reportedly beaten by teachers for failing to celebrate the staff’s return from a music competition.

Eyewitness reports and graphic images circulating online reveal severe bruises and lacerations on the students’ backs and limbs, allegedly inflicted using Bunsen burner wires and other blunt objects. Parents described the injuries as resembling wounds from a violent attack, with one noting, “Their skin was peeled off — no human being should be subjected to that.”

In response, parents and community members staged a protest outside the school, calling for justice and the immediate removal of the teachers involved. “We are Kenyans like everyone else. We demand accountability,” one demonstrator said.

Corporal punishment has been illegal in Kenyan schools since the enactment of the Basic Education Act, 2013, which prohibits all forms of physical or degrading disciplinary action.

Principal Secretary for Education Dr. Julius Bitok condemned the incident, reaffirming the government’s zero-tolerance policy. “Discipline must never cross into abuse,” he said, adding that both the Ministry and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) are actively investigating.

TSC Director Hussein Mohammed confirmed that those found culpable will face disciplinary action in accordance with the law.

This incident has reignited the national conversation on student safety, teacher accountability, and the urgent need for reinforced enforcement of child protection laws in Kenya’s education sector.