• Residents say learners are forced to walk long distances to access education, which makes girls an easy prey for sex predators.
• This leads to teenage pregnancies and eventual dropping out of school.
Image: ALPHONCE GARI
Lack of adequate schools in Ganze, Kilifi county, has been blamed for the high dropout rate among girls.
Residents say learners are forced to walk long distances to access education, which makes girls an easy prey for sex predators. This leads to teenage pregnancies and eventual dropping out of school.
The entire constituency has only two girls' schools.
To help in solving this problem, a family in Bamba, Ganze constituency, has donated 20 acres for the establishment of a new girls' secondary school.
The family said they were driven by the need to stop girls from dropping out due to the long distance they have to cover to school and back home, which exposes them sex pests.
Kaiungu Koi said he was the only elder remaining in the extended family and that he decided to donate the land for the betterment of the girl.
Speaking during the groundbreaking of the construction of four classrooms through NG-CDF, Koi said they expect the infrastructure to also promote development.
The event was graced by MP Teddy Mwambire.
"We're optimistic that with the launch of the construction work, we will support development, which will go a long way in transforming the area," he said.
The problem has led to an increase in teenage pregnancies and high dropout rates as girls lack a secure environment to study.
We expect by the end of next year, we will build four new girls' schools, which will have made the number of girls' schools to six in the constituencyMP Teddy Mwambire
In Bamba ward has only one girl's secondary school. The rest are mixed schools.
Christine Mwenda, a resident of Chapungu in Bamba, said they were happy to see the upcoming girls' school as the only one available was seven kilometres away.
She said children risked being attacked by wild animals and sex predators.
"We stand to benefit in big way in form of business due to the children and teachers who will be at the school as they will need different products," she said.
Mwenda said their girls will also no longer walk for long distances.
She appealed to the government to build more girls school in every location to enhance access.
Mwambire, on his part, said the new school will be the third in the entire constituency and the first in Bamba ward
He noted that while Bamba has 25 public primary schools and five private schools, there was no public girls secondary school.
Image: ALPHONCE GARI
The legislator expressed optimism that they will attract more girls after Godoma Secondary Mixed School is fully changed to a boys institution.
"We expect by the end of next year, we will build four new girls' schools, which will have made the number of girls' schools to six in the constituency. One of them will be the special girls' school, which shall cater for victims of teenage pregnancies,"he said.
He noted that there is still shortage of infrastructure due to the increased number of girls willing to go to school.
The new school will have boarding facilities to enable girls to stay and protect them from early pregnancies.
"We appeal to investors and well-wishers to come and support our initiative to ensure we complete this school,’’ he said.
He said the idea of boarding school for girls it will be a game changer in the war against teenage pregnancy.
The MP also called on the national government to release Sh65 million to facilitate development at the grassroots.
Mwathethe Nixon, assistant chief Chapungu, said they have been waiting for such development for a long time.
Edited by EKibii