45-year-old school in Baringo County where pupils have sat KCPE exam once

Nakoko Primary School in Baringo County, which registered its first batch of KCPE candidates last year. (PHOTO: KEVIN TUNOI/ STANDARD)

Ordinarily, it takes a new primary school only eight years to register the first batch of its Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) candidates.

But for Nakoko Primary School in Baringo County, the journey was long and arduous. It took the school a record 45 years to register the first group of KCPE candidates.

The school, which was established in 1970, never registered any pupils for the national exams until last year.

Education stakeholders blame perennial Pokot-Turkana communal clashes, drought, lack of adequate facilities and retrogressive cultural practices for the institution’s predicament. Due to a combination of factors, the school was closed from 1970 to 1988 and also in 1992 to 1994.

When The Standard team visited the school, which is situated in Silale location near Kapedo, it was ushered in by the harsh reality of the unforgiving weather there. The ground is bare save for the evergreen “mathenge” plants that dot the landscape.

Only one class in the school has desks. The rest of the students sit on rocks.

But despite this grim outlook, area chief Peter Lemunguria says the situation is slowly changing after rigorous campaigns to keep the children in school.

LOW LITERACY RATE

“In 2015, the school registered 17 students as our first batch of KCPE candidates since the school was established. We have set village committees whose main purpose is to ensure all school-going age children are in school and report parents who do not take their children to school,” said the administrator.

The best candidate from the school scored 326 marks.

Mr Lemunguria said cultural practices, including Female Genital Mutilation and early marriages, have impeded education in the region.

“Children also trek for up to three kilometres in search of water, thus making them unable to attend school,” said Mr Emangura.

Fred Kamurkutwo, the head teacher, said the enrollment rate is high in lower classes but the number of pupils declines as they enter their teenage years.

“East Pokot has one of the lowest literacy rates at four per cent with 60 per cent of the children out of school on any given day. Currently, our population is around 145 pupils with 18 being KCPE candidates,” he said.

He attributes the increase in pupils’ enrollment to the introduction of e-learning by an NGO. The Government has also increased the number of teachers to six.

According to Hifadhi Africa Organisation Director Collins Nakedi, the tablets are low-cost and low-power computers to support and accelerate adoption of education.