• Residents built school under fundraiser.
• Board chairman says Standard 4-6 pupils have no textbooks.
Image: KNA
You only have to look at one so-called ECDE centre in Kalawa, Kitui East, to see what's wrong with education in much of Kenya.
Cracked mud walls, no desks, no doors, no water, no textbooks, no electricity, no playing field, useless tablets for digital learning, two teachers, their 'lounge' made of twigs. Shallow shared pit latrines
And, of course, it's not just this one centre.
Parents and teachers are begging for help so they can upgrade the school and compete with better-funded schools.
In 2011 29 parents from Mbukoni in Kalawa, Kitui East, started an early childhood education centre. The next year they held a fundraiser and bought land to build the school so children would not walk long distances to Kalawa Primary School, almost four kilometres. from the new Mbukoni Primary School.
When the press visited the school on Wednesday, headteacher Wilson Nzomoi said the school on one acre has 88 pupils and only two TSC-registered teachers.
“The parents employed three other teachers to support us. However, due to high poverty, paying the teachers is an uphill task. Sometimes they teach for two to three months without wages,” Nzomoi said.
He said the school lacks basic infrastructure, has mud walls and lacks doors to secure the few pieces of furniture.
“We received 20 tablets under the Digital Literacy Programme in 2016 but due to lack of security, learners have never touched them. We don't have a secure place to store them as our compound is insecure."
He said the tablets are in the custody of Kalawa Primary, adding that the school is not connected to the national grid.
“Even if they gave us solar, it is not safe in Mbukoni Primary."
Learners lack desks and water. Pit latrines are shared in turns.
"We do not receive enough capital from the government due to low enrolment. With the little we get we buy a few items such as exercise books for a short period," Nzoimoi said.
The one acre isn't enough for a playing field. Pupils usually go to Kalawa Primary grounds for extra-curricular activities.
In the morning the cold penetrates the mud walls, in the afternoon the heat is unbearable. During the rainy season, classes get soaked.
Parent Veronica Juma called on the government and others to help.
"If we get help such as posting TSC teachers, the parents’ burden will be eased to enable us to channel our resources to income-generating ventures,” Juma said.
Board of management chairman Musyoka Kimanga said the teachers’ lounge is a makeshift structure of twigs. "This is where they discharge their professional duties," he said.
“Standards 4 to 6 pupils do not have a single textbook. They are in dire need of reading materials to prepare for the national examinations like their urban counterparts,” Kimanga said.