Most public schools lack toilets and classrooms, says survey

By NGARE KARIUKI
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Dilapidated toilets at Sokotei Primary School in Mukutani Division of Baringo County in June 2014. A needs assessment report released last week reveals some schools do not have essential facilities such as toilets or even balls for children to play with. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

Summary

• Approximately, one in every ten schools (8.9 per cent) does not have a syllabus for teachers to work with, meaning tutors largely invent their way.
• Recent reports have featured schools such as Nachurur Primary in Tiaty Constituency, Baringo County, where about 300 pupils learn under trees. The school has only two teachers.

Parents, especially those in marginalized areas, say the current debate on changing the curriculum may not make any difference to children.Many public primary and secondary schools in Kenya lack basic learning facilities such as classrooms even as education experts debate whether or not the current system and curriculum should be changed.

A needs assessment report released last week reveals some schools do not have essential facilities such as toilets or even balls for children to play with.

One in every five secondary schools does not have any form of learning charts in classrooms. The same number of schools do not have any sports equipment, according to the study by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development.

Approximately, one in every ten schools (8.9 per cent) does not have a syllabus for teachers to work with, meaning tutors largely invent their way.

“We don’t even have classrooms with floors. Books are also not enough. We have to manufacture plastic balls and make drums for music and drama. There are not enough toilets, boys and girls share, and some go to the bush,” said a pupil interviewed in the report.

Recent reports have featured schools such as Nachurur Primary in Tiaty Constituency, Baringo County, where about 300 pupils learn under trees. The school has only two teachers.

Parents, especially those in marginalized areas, say the current debate on changing the curriculum may not make any difference to children.

Teachers in these schools, most of them in the northern Kenya, echoed the parents’ sentiments, adding that students don’t access resources that are readily available to their counterparts in Nairobi.