Teen girl commits suicide in Bomet County after a teacher shamed her over her menses

Teen girl commits suicide after being shamed by teacher over her menses

Mumbi Mutuko

September 11, 2019 1:06 PM

Shamed & humiliated to suicide for her first menses

Teen girl commits suicide after teacher shamed her over her menses

A 14-year-old girl committed suicide in Konoin Sub-County, Bomet County after her teacher shamed her over her menses.

Parents demonstrated to the school forcing police to fire teargas over what they termed as lack of action from the school.

Jacqueline Chepngeno, was shocked when she got her first periods only to be shamed by her teacher who called her dirty in front of the whole class.

Jackline Chepngeno's mother, Ms Beatrice Koech Pulse Live Kenya

Her female classmates say she was confused after soiling her uniform and hardly concentrated, attracting the attention of the female teacher.

Her mother Beatrice Koech said that the girl went home feeling humiliated and told her that her teacher embarrassed and before the entire class.

Lack of sanitary towels

“She had nothing to use as a pad. When the blood stained her clothes, she was told to leave the classroom and stand outside,” Ms Koech said.

Chepngeno narrated the ordeal to her mother before going to fetch water from a nearby water pan where she decided to hang herself using a leso she was carrying.

Sanitary towels Pulse Live Kenya

Konoin Sub-County Police Commander Alex Shikondi said: “When police arrived at the scene, they found the girl had committed suicide using a leso and the body was moved to Kapkatet Hospital mortuary.”

This case, once again, casts a spotlight on the Education ministry’s free sanitary towels programme for schoolgirls.

Mumbi Mutuko