The lives of more than 140 pupils of Rosondonin Primary School in Baringo North subcounty are at risk after their mud-walled classrooms started to crack.
Head teacher James Kandie said the old school established in 1985 is already shaking and might soon collapse.
“Huge cracks are already forming, meaning the mud on the walls might slide down anytime, injuring and displacing my pupils,” Kandie told the Star on Friday.
Snakes and scorpions are problems both inside and outside if students study under trees.
He said the school has never received financial assistance to give a it a facelift since it was built.
“What we have today was just through simple contributions from the parents and well-wishers,” the headteacher said.
He appealed to the government to urgently allocate funds to salvage the school before pupils must be taught outside under trees.
In the same subcounty, more than 10,000 pupils in more than 20 primary schools study in substandard and dangerous structures.
In Maramar Primary, gaping holes can be observed in the mud walls.
“Snakes and scorpions have become our regular visitors. In fac we recently lost one pupil who was bitten by a black mamba.There are also frequent common respiratoryproblems due to the dust, ” headteacher Nickson Kiptui said.
He said there is also an acute shortage of water, which forces pupils to trek more than 10km to find it.
Furthermore, pupils of three classes at Kiptilingon primary are studying under trees after their iron sheet classrooms were blown away by strong winds during the holiday.
“The school was established in 1999 but the entire structures from pre-school are made of iron sheets andthe floors are still soil,”head teacher Joshua Chepsergon said.
He said they have requested improvements from the national and county governments since 2016, but nothing has been done.
POOR PERFOMANCE
Other dilapidated schools are Kapkarani, Lake Kamnarok, Kaptigit, Chesangich, Cheptigit, Chapin, Kisumet, Kosile, Kagir, Tuluk, Ngaratuko, Chepkowel, Rormoch, Karimo, Kapng’etio, Chemora, Biretwonin, Koindui, Kipkaren, Moigutwo, Terik and Kaplany.
MP William Cheptumo said he has tried to improve the schools in his constituency.
“I don’t deny the fact that there are still bad schools but throughout my three terms I have tried to reduce the percentage from 70 to at least 30, although more is still needed to be done,” Cheptumo said.
Parents, led by Nelson Chebet from Kerio Valley, said none of the pupils attained over 350 marks in the KCPE due to poor learning conditions.
The new county director of Education, Moses Karati, said he just assumed office and needs more time to visit the schools.
“I cannot comment on anything at this time unless I get the full statistics and have toured the said schools,” Karati said.
He took over from the former CDE Willy Machocho.