Food insecurity and shortages disrupt Baringo County schools A classroom at Tibingar Primary School, Baringo North.
For several weeks, students at Ngaratuko Primary School, in Baringo County, have been facing a difficult reality. Every day, they leave the school under heavy surveillance to fetch water from a nearby well, their only available source.
It wasn’t always like this; the school previously had water tanks. However, persistent insecurity has led to vandalism of school infrastructure.
“We had a well in the village, but it broke down. At school we now use water from the river, but accessing it is difficult due to insecurity,” explains Purity Rotich, a teacher at Ngaratuko Primary School. “The school equipment was burnt, including the jerrycans and all the water tanks. »
This insecurity has transformed this school, which has only 57 students, into a place of learning and residence for families without a safe place to live due to bandit attacks. During the day, classrooms are used for learning; at nightfall, they are transformed into homes. Students often have to skip classes to care for their younger siblings while their parents work on nearby farms, desperately trying to rebuild their lives disrupted by the attacks.
In addition to bandit attacks, schools are struggling to provide enough food to keep students, especially secondary school students, in school.
Francis Cheptile, school principal, says: “We only have one 90 kg bag of maize and eight 50 kg bags of beans. Students are forced to eat porridge for dinner because we are trying to save supplies. »
He adds: “Recently, students had to walk to Marigat because they had no food. »
Schools have been forced to collaborate to address food shortages compounded by insecurity.
“We had to donate our food to the secondary school after the students had no food in their supply for three days,” explains Thomas Kiburet, principal of Yatya Primary School.
The school community is now calling on the government to act quickly to resolve the problem of banditry and provide adequate food supplies to schools. This will ensure that students do not miss out on their education as the school year progresses towards mid-term and ultimately end-of-year exams.
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