By Job Weru

Like 435 other pupils, Charles Wanjohi, 10, has mastered the art of survival. His school, Kabiruini Primary School in Mathira West District, has been reduced to a shell of what it used to be.

Classrooms at the 76-year-old school are dilapidated and some are without roofing, while those that are fitted with iron sheets resemble a fishing net, exposing pupils to open air learning.

The only decent structures left standing in the institution are a number of blocks of administration units and a couple of modern pit latrines that were put up last year, courtesy of businessman Mr Rigathi Gachagua, who is an old boy.

Imminent closure

But the toilets were not constructed under the normal school development scheme, since Mr Gachagua rushed to save the school from closure after the Public Health department condemned it.

School head teacher Mr Josephat Kahea says the school did not have money left for development and they appealed to Gachagua, an old boy, who donated Sh800,000 to help put up the structures.

“We were facing imminent closure and the only option left was to call on well wishers to help us,” says Mr Kahea.

A visit to the school gave two different sides of a coin. On entering the gate, one is faced with ramshackle structures some with spiked roofing, no windows and doors and potholed floor.

One of the classrooms used by Class Seven pupils has a wide hole in the black wall and teachers have to make use of a lesser space left in the black wall which is used as the blackboard.

Former self

The rear side of the school is lined up with pit latrines that are positioned just next to an old building which Winnie Mwangi, a parent, says wore out even before construction was completed.

“Pupils did not even get a chance to be ushered into the classroom because it was not completed. The roofing has started wearing out and it will cost just more money to refurbish it,” says Ms  Mwangi. Kabiruini Primary School is located in Ruguru location, Kiamariga area, a few minutes’ drive from Sagana State Lodge in Mathira Constituency.

It was started in 1936, but the classrooms permanent classrooms were put up in 1958.

But the irony is that only the olden structures are standing firm, although the floor, roofing, doors and windows remain a tattered shadow of its former self.

Like in other schools in the larger Mathira, which was not very long ago known as ‘Mathira ma githomo’ (Mathira, the hub of education), the school was famous for producing personalities working in both the Government and the private sector, but the fame is  fast fading.

According to Mr Kahea, the school is still striving to perform well, since it emerged second out of 18 other schools in the area in last year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE).

“Only the classrooms are in a bad state, otherwise teachers do their best to equip pupils with the required knowledge and we emerge among the best, even beating private academies,” says Mr  Kahea.

The mainly one-stream school is home to 436 pupils, all who are from the area.

But the catchment, according to Gachagua, is generally non-productive, since it is within a semi-arid strip that belts up to Mukurweini and the semi-arid Kieni Constituency.

“Locals do their best to produce but the climatic conditions do not favour them. It has therefore been very hard for them to raise their families and also contribute towards uplifting the school’s physical structures,” says Mr  Gachagua.

Recently, the school management committee organised a fundraiser which attracted former pupils to help rehabilitate the institution.

The buildings have not been roofed and do not also have doors and windows.

“We have been applying for funding from Mathira Constituency Development Fund (CDF) but we have not been successful until lately when some officials at the office intimated to me that we will get Sh250,000 funding, which is a good gesture,” says Mr Kahea.

Hope on old pupils

According to the head teacher, the school received Sh650,000 from the CDF in 2009, which was spent in cementing some classrooms and installing windows in some of the dilapidated classrooms.

The current cold weather that has hit the area has forced pupils in the school to cushion their tender bodies from getting infected with  pneumonia.

Like other pupils, Wanjohi has been wearing many clotes and teachers have been forced to allow it due to the current state of the school and  the weather.

The school administration has been forced to peg their hope on old pupils, who have been raising funds to improve the institutions.

Mr Kahea observes that the 2003 introduction of the Free-Primary Education also did the school a blow, since parents abdicated their responsibility of developing it.

“I came here six years ago and records indicate that since 2003, parents have been shunning from raising funds for development. I think they believe the Government disburses funds to build or renovate such institutions covered in the programme,” he says.

Mr Anthony Mwangi, a parent says the Government should consider helping poor communities develop their schools.

“Most dilapidated institutions which need a face lift are those which were put up years ago. The Government should set aside some funds which will help develop the facilities to modern status,” says Mr  Mwangi.

On the other hand, Mr Gachagua has called for complete delinking of politicians from managing CDF, noting that some politicians shun funding projects in areas where they do not enjoy support.