Kenyan teacher killed for ‘confiscating a phone’
Three students were arrested for the murder of a teacher in Kenya after the confiscation of a mobile phone.
Peter Omari, a physics professor at Hopewell High School in Nakuru, was assaulted on Thursday.
His crime, having wanted to enforce a provision prohibiting students from bringing mobile phones to many schools in Kenya. This decision was taken to fight against indiscipline and cheating especially during exams.
Officials told the BBC that Omari had supervised evening studies. Deputy County Commissioner Elim Shafi said Omari was walking home from school in Nakuru, 150 km northwest of the capital, Nairobi, when he was struck in the head.
Attacks on teachers and schools are a growing concern for the authorities, according to BBC’s Mercy Juma in Nairobi. Last year, a teacher was murdered using machete by students in Kisume, western Kenya, after a heated exchange in a bar.
In 2016, students from a Kisii boarding school set fire to the dormitories after being prevented from watching a live broadcast of a Euro 2016 football game. The students set seven dormitories in the school on fire and tried to damage the property of the nearby girls’ school.
The governor of Kisii County, James Ongwae, pointed out in the aftermath of this criminal act that “the efforts of fire and police response teams to reach the scene have been hampered by unruly students.”
The students had caused millions of shillings of loss to their institution.
