KCPE candidate commits suicide in Kisii after being sent home for not wearing uniform

NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 29- Joy Nyaboke, a standard eight candidate from Kianyabinge Primary School on Thursday morning committed suicide, after she was sent home from school, for not wearing proper attire.

When she left for school in the morning, her mother told Shahidi News that she insisted on wearing an alternative skirt since her school uniform was torn.

But on arrival,  the school turned her away and demanded she go back home and wear the school uniform.

“I had asked her why she was not wearing her uniform. She told me that it was torn, and she had no other option,” her mother Diana Nyaboke told Shahidi News.

Her mother, who is a casual labourer said she “took it (the torn school uniform) and promised to have it stitched.”

Shortly after, she realized her daughter who had earlier left for school “was still in the house.” 

“When I enquired on why she had returned home, my daughter said she had been turned away and asked to wear the proper school uniform,” she said. 

“I shortly stepped out of my house and informed my sister who I work with I would not be able to make it to work.”

But on returning to her house, she noticed several house utensils were on the floor just outside the door.

It is on entering the house that she saw her daughter’s legs dangling.

“I started screaming after I realized she had committed suicide,” a teary Nyaboke said.

While it is evident the deceased was uncomfortable with her uniform, it remains unclear why she decided to end her life.

Police have since moved her body to the Kisii Referral hospital mortuary.