Police probe schoolgirl’s mysterious death

Police officers at Kisumu girls high school while conducting an investigation on the death of a Form One student who died on May 10, 2019. (Collins Oduor, Standard)

Police are investigating the death a Form One student at Kisumu Girls High School. According to police sources, Anastasia Chepkemoi, 13, died at Kisumu County Hospital where she was rushed after she was found weak and sluggish by her fellow students while going for breakfast Friday morning.

Although the school did not release an official statement, Nyanza Regional Police Commander Vincent Makokha, accompanied by county educationofficials said she had been on malaria drugs since school reopened for second term.

“The school management says the girl had been on the drugs before she came to school but had forgotten them at home. The school therefore continued her on the dosage she said had been prescribed,” he said.

This claim, he said, was under investigation. Makokha said her parents had been notified of her demise that came amid growing concerns over safety of learners in boarding schools.

Last month, another Form One student, Cyril Oyungu of Maseno School succumbed to sickle cell anemia. A month earlier, a Form Three student at Kangaru School Kennedy Fundi died while receiving treatment at Nairobi Women’s Hospital. In a statement following death of the Maseno student, the Teachers Service Commission assured panicked parents that the death of students in school was being treated seriously.