- A father has sued Moi Girls School Nairobi for suspending his daughter for daydreaming.
Through lawyer Gordon Ogado the parent has accused the school and its board of management of denying the minor an opportunity to take her end of term one exams which happened on March 18 to April 1, 2019.
“The petitioner is apprehensive that unless that respondents are restrained from issuing illegal suspension letters and taking illegal disciplinary action the minor may not be re-admitted on time for the second term,” said the parent’s lawyer Ogado in court documents.
According to the father, he was called on January 21 by the school’s principal’s secretary to pick his daughter from school o allegation of indiscipline.
He says it is alleged that his daughter was day dreaming, when she woke up to shouting by fellow students causing her great distress, shock and confusion which compelled her to leave the classroom.
The father says the secretary and the school counsellor insisted that he takes the minor hoe and organize to take her to Kenyatta National Hospital Youth Centre for counselling without giving any reason.
“The secretary purported to suspend my daughter from the school without authority contrary to the law and the public school disciplinary procedure,” he says in an affidavit.
The father says he complied with the instructions and his daughter was taken to KNH Youth Centre and completed three counselling sessions and the doctor who was attending her wrote a report on the same.
He says when he took his daughter back to the school, she was subjected to another counselling and told put in writing that she will not repeat the same mistake which she obliged and was allowed back to class.
Few days later however, while he was attending a parent visiting day, the father claims that he received a call from the principal’s secretary requesting that he meets the principal with a view of discussing the minor’s conduct.
He says the principal produced handwritten notes /papers and asked him whether he had seen them before which he denied to have seen them before and asked the principal show him which she declined.
“The principal now insisted I take the child to Amani Counselling Centre and Training Institute and a church for further counselling and I reluctantly obliged to,” he said in affidavit.
According to the father, despite complying the demands, the principal refused to allow the child back to school and issued another suspension letter recommending that the minor be taken to a reputable institution for further counselling.
He says the minor has been illegally excluded, denied an opportunity to seat for end of first term exams to her detriment to continuous learning and evaluation.
“I have personally tried pleading with the respondent on various occasions but they proved to be adamant and difficult leading me no option but to institute this suit before the court,’ he stated.
The father wants the court to lift the said suspension imposed on his daughter and allow her to continue with her education at the school for the second term commencing from May.
He further wants the court to issue an order restraining the school and it board of management from proceeding with any disciplinary proceedings or subjecting the minor to any further counselling.
