A video posted on Facebook shows six men beating up a younger man, who seems to be wearing a school uniform. The six throw the youth to the ground and kick, slap and hit him with a stick.
In the background you can hear voices calling out “mwalimu'', Kiswahili for “teacher”, and “mtamuumiza jamani”, which means “you will surely hurt him”.
The headline of the video, posted on 25 January 2020, reads: “Kenya. Teachers are spotted here beating a student like a snake. All the teachers involved to lose their jobs with TSC.”
TSC is Kenya’s Teachers Service Commission, which registers and employs all primary and secondary school teachers in public schools.
But the video has been online since September 2016. And news reports from the time say the incident happened in Tanzania.
The Citizen newspaper reported that the video showed trainee teachers beating a student at Mbeya Day Secondary School, in Mbeya in southwestern Tanzania. The student was being punished for not writing a test.
The Citizen also said a senior government official in the presidency had “demoted” the school’s principal for not reporting the incident to the police.
The BBC and Kenyan media also covered the incident. – Dancan Bwire
In the background you can hear voices calling out “mwalimu'', Kiswahili for “teacher”, and “mtamuumiza jamani”, which means “you will surely hurt him”.
The headline of the video, posted on 25 January 2020, reads: “Kenya. Teachers are spotted here beating a student like a snake. All the teachers involved to lose their jobs with TSC.”
TSC is Kenya’s Teachers Service Commission, which registers and employs all primary and secondary school teachers in public schools.
Video shot in Tanzania in 2016
But the video has been online since September 2016. And news reports from the time say the incident happened in Tanzania.
The Citizen newspaper reported that the video showed trainee teachers beating a student at Mbeya Day Secondary School, in Mbeya in southwestern Tanzania. The student was being punished for not writing a test.
The Citizen also said a senior government official in the presidency had “demoted” the school’s principal for not reporting the incident to the police.
The BBC and Kenyan media also covered the incident. – Dancan Bwire
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Further Reading
[email protected]: The challenges of working across Africa
Misinformation knows no borders and Africa Check often responds to similar false claims from country to country.
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