The High Court has handed a school principal in Nyeri County a six-month jail term after he was found guilty of contempt of court for the violation of an order compelling him to re-admit 20 suspended students.

Justice Florence Muchemi found Othaya Boys High School Edward Muhunu guilty of defying an order by the court dated March 23 to re-admit the students who had been suspended for assault.

In the ruling, the judge found that the students through their lawyer Muhoho Gichimu had enough proof that the institution and it's Board of Management had in fact received the order, as they had stamped copies by the school's administration acknowledging receipt of the same.

"Service of the orders on the respondent has not been denied in this application as the school’s BOM has replied trying to justify its failure to obey the said order,” she stated.

Justice Muchemi found the institution at fault for failing to take legal action challenging the order and hence found the principal culpable of its violation.

“Assuming that the school had a problem with obeying the order, it would have instructed its counsel to challenge it in court but nothing of that sort was done and it instead remained adamant in shutting the students from its premises,” she noted.

According to court documents, the students were suspended in October 2021 for assaulting three other students which resulted in serious injuries on one of them.

Further, the principal stated in an affidavit that he came to the rescue of the three students who were in the school's ablution block where the attack took place and proceeded to the police station to report the matter.

The case proceeded to court and the students were charged , which then escalated to the school administration's decision to suspend them after a BOM meeting on the suspicions that they also bullied other students.

The students went to court and sought orders to have them re-admitted pending hearing and determination of the lawsuit, which led to the invitation of their parents to the school to find a resolution to the matter.

The purpose of the meeting between their parents and the BOM was to discuss the students'future in the institution, particularly the forthcoming Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations, that were slated for March 2022.

The school also demanded for re-admission, they would be required to pay Kshs 3,500.

During the meeting however, the institution went back on their word, detailing new terms for their re-admission.

“The students were instead informed that they would be day schoolers and be accommodated at a nearby local school where an external cook and an armed officer contracted by the school would take care of them,” their lawyer Muhoho said, adding that the school stated that the Kshs 3,500 was to cater to the external cook’s services.

Muhoho claimed that the mood at the meeting was also hostile, with the school castigating the students for pursuing legal action against the school and in fact, the meeting was only called after the intervention of the county director of education.