Headteacher and his wife arrested for employing minor

A 9-year-old girl who has been working in the house of a primary school head teacher has been rescued by officials from the Children Services Department and the head teacher together with his wife, also a teacher, detained.

The minor had apparently been working at the house in Rodi Kopany, Homa Bay county as a house help for at least seven months before he was rescued on Wednesday January 12.

According to the children officers, the girl dropped out of school in May last year to attend to her house help duties.

Homa Bay County Children’s Officer Joseph Otieno said the minor was a pupil at a primary school in Kuria in Migori County. She was in Grade Two when she dropped out of school.

 At the suspects’ house, the pupil was tasked with the responsibility of taking care of the couple’s one-year-old baby among other household chores.

“It is ironic that the head teacher and his wife are tasked with the responsibility of ensuring children go to school, yet they made the girl stay in their house and work. Worst of all, there are other children from the house who go to school and leave the child at home,” Mr Otieno said.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the head teacher made the parents of the girl believe that the minor would get admission at the school where he is the head.

“They made an agreement that the girl be accommodated at the house and go to school like the rest of the children, but this did not happen,” Mr Otieno said.

She was rescued when concerned neighbours started questioning why the girl was always at home when other children of her age from the area were in school.

The neighbours reported their suspicions to the children services who then stormed the houses and arrested the alleged employers.

The minor was rescued and taken to a child protection centre and the two teachers detained at Rodi Police Station.