By Ndegwa Macharia
A disaster is looming in Bondeni
primary school in Sipili division of Laikipia West district after a roof for
two classrooms curved in when heavy rains pounded the area for the last one
week. The classrooms have been left in a pathetic state leaving pupils exposed
to dangerous conditions. The classrooms include the ones being used by the Std
8 pupils expected to sit for the National examinations in the course of the
year.
The school which is located 8km
from north of Sipili centre is served by a dilapidated road. When the Laikipia Rural Voices (LRV) reporter
visited the school, teachers were busy with their duties. The head teacher Mr.
David Mbuthia and the PTA chairperson Mr. James Mburu were trying to support the curving roof using
old posts in an effort to salvage the problem.
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The scene of the classroom was an eye sore
because it had rained heavily the previous night and the two classrooms were
flooded with rain water. The children huddled together in one corner to avoid getting
in contact with the pools of water. Up the roof, the sky was azure due to lack
of iron sheets blown away by the wind.
The walls were no better. The
aging timber was giving room to the gaps. “These classrooms were built in the
1970’s’, said the chairman of the school who happens to be a former pupil of
the school. He said that he used the same classrooms in the early 80’s when he was
admitted in STD one. “The rays of the sun penetrating through the gaps left by
missing iron sheets and old timber walls have interfered with learning and this
worries the teachers because these children are supposed to compete with others
from schools which have conducive learning environment”, Said the head teacher.
Asked whether they have benefited
from the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), they explained that they have
made several trips to the CDF offices seeking for funds but without any success.
The roads in the neighborhood are
impassable. They have never been graded since time immemorial. For those who
come across the Wangwachi dam. They literally swim across the stream on their
way to school when the dam floods.
By10.00am pupils had not started
learning because the work of supporting the falling roofs of their classrooms
was not yet over. One wondered how the students would move about in the
classroom with posts that support the falling roof precariously dotting their
classroom. The situation was indeed pathetic and it was hard to imagine whether
pupils were actually supposed to learn in that state of affairs.
“If urgent measures are not taken
the children will learn from under a tree in the compound to avoid dangers
posed by the falling roof”, Said the head teacher. However the prevailing
weather conditions do not allow learning to take place. They are appealing to
the government to help them to restore normal learning process in the school.
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