Published on
1 August 2016
Parents
at Shikomari Primary School in Navakholo Constituency, Kakamega County
are up in arms after the heat teacher of the institution allowed a
non-governmental organisation to circumcise their children without their
consent.
According
to the parents, the NGO has been visiting the school since last week
and circumcising their children aged 5 and above without informing them.
Led
by Joseph Otieno and Marygoeti Onbonyo, the parents claim that the
school’s management went against their culture and tradition and now
want the Ministry of Education to intervene in the matter.
The
parents now claim that the issue could lead to a breakdown of their
marriages, giving the example of one boy who was disowned by his father,
a Bukusu, for being circumcised while at his in laws’ place.
“You
cannot do anything you want to my child without asking me first. I am
from the Luo community and in my culture we don’t allow circumcision,”
one parent lamented.
“He
is turning away parents using abusive language instead of explaining
what exactly happened. Next week they have exams and the students can’t
sit exams while in pain,” another parent commented.
A
woman, who is a parent at the school, said the female pupils were
separated from the male pupils, and then the male pupils were inspected
to find out whether or not they were circumcised. The male pupils were
then told to get into a vehicle and transported to the place where the
circumcisions were done.
Another
parent stated that in their culture the circumcised child must return
home with the foreskin, but in this case she was called to pick up her
child from the school while already circumcised, a matter that angered
the child’s father.
“I
don’t know who to ask for the foreskin and I don’t know what to answer
as the child’s mother about where the skin is,” she lamented.
Speaking
to Citizen Digital, a Standard Four pupil said that the members of the
organisation went to the school and circumcised them, adding that his
wound is infected.
“They
came to the school and took us where they circumcised us and called my
mother to come pick me up. Right now the wound is infected,” he said.
However,
speaking to Citizen Digital on phone, the school’s head teacher John
Musungu rubbished the parents’ claims saying the NGO had registered the
pupils who wanted to be circumcised following an agreement with their
parents.
“We
have an NGO that circumcises the children for free but only for willing
parents and willing children. So they came and registered the pupils in
school. However one pupil lied that his parents had given consent,” he
said.
The
head teacher attributed the issue to propaganda by enemies of the
school saying: “Some people who don’t like the school have blown up the
issue to the point of making phone calls using different numbers to
create the impression that there are many complainants,” he said.
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