Over 3.5m kids to dropout of school next year as drought worsens

Over 3.5 million children in Kenya will be out of school when schools reopen for the first term in January 2023 due to the ongoing drought, Save the Children has said.

A 2021 study by the Global Out of School Children Initiative revealed that there are more than two million children aged between four to 17 years that have been out of school since the third term of 2021.

The Long Rains Assessment Report by the National Disaster Management Authority projects that an additional 1.6 million children are at high risk of dropping out of school as schools reopen for the first term next year as the hunger crisis worsens.

Mandera, Garissa, Wajir, Turkana and Marsabit are among the worst affected counties with Mandera having the highest number of school dropouts of 295,470 children aged between four to 17 years old.

Garissa follows with 289,410, Wajir at 266,540, Turkana at 253,640 then Marsabit at 107,600 dropouts.

Other counties also greatly affected are Narok with 83,020, West Pokot (80,070) and Samburu with 64,818 school dropouts.

The 2022 Long Rains Assessment, October to December projection period report for the arid and semi-arid regions, indicates that 4.35 million people in Kenya are facing high levels of acute food insecurity. 

According to a recent survey done by Save the Children in June this year on the impact of the drought in 17 counties, a significant decrease in enrolment is seen in all the counties with an average of 52 per cent affected schools across all levels (Early Childhood Education, primary and secondary).

Among the key reasons for high school, dropout was highlighted as inadequate or lack of school meals, poor learning environment, lack of teachers, dilapidated infrastructure, resource-based conflicts and climate-related emergencies.

Shortage of water in schools is also a major factor.

An analysis of water in primary and secondary schools in the 17 counties targeted by the education sector revealed that 460 schools have no water source and 1,896 schools only rely on harvesting rainwater.

“Kenya is experiencing one of the worst droughts in 40 years. Children are the most vulnerable groups and are usually the most affected in such emergencies," Yvonne Arunga, country director for Save the Children Kenya and Madagascar.

"Parents have to migrate with their children in search of food, pasture and water for their livestock. This compromises their access to basic facilities such as food, clean water, healthcare and education.” 

Northern Kenya is majorly a pastoralist community and right now, parents are unable to pay school fees because they have lost their sources of livelihood.

Communities are majorly focused on basic survival skills and school children have to help their parents take care of livestock and carry out domestic chores. 

“Every minute that goes by means more children’s lives are increasingly at risk. Time is quickly running out for children. They’re missing out on education, making them more disadvantaged," Yvonne said. 

"We are calling on the government to make every effort to ensure maximised and efficient running of school feeding programmes during drought situations, especially in the areas worst affected by drought. Most of these children depend on these meals.”

Save the Children is also calling on the government to ensure there is an adequate supply of safe water to schools during the drought for purposes of drinking, sanitation and personal hygiene in order to enhance a conducive school environment that will encourage children to stay in school. 

The government should also put in place real-time monitoring systems to assess situations in schools at the onset of drought to enable early responses before the impact of school closures is experienced.

To address these gaps in education, Save the Children is implementing the Operation Come to School Project dubbed ‘Watoto rudi Shule’ to increase enrolment and retention of children who are out of school in Wajir Turkana, Baringo and Bungoma Counties.

The organisation will work in partnership with the various departments in the targeted counties.

This will ensure complementarity with county level priorities and project education priorities in the proposed project.

Save the Children is providing lifesaving assistance to children and their families affected by the drought in Turkana, Mandera, Wajir, and Garissa counties through integrated health, nutrition, food security, child protection, water hygiene and sanitation and education interventions.

Some 737,931 people, including 405,511 children have been reached this year.