County Commissioner: There are no registered government schools in Mau

A fence separating a section of Maasai Mau Forest which has been set aside for Nyayo Tea zones (left) and land belonging to locals at Kipchoge area in Narok County on June 21,2018. [Kipsang Joseph/Standard]

Narok County Commissioner George Natembeya has maintained that there are no registered government schools in Maasai Mau Trust land in Narok South where thousands of people were evicted.

Natembeya on Saturday said the government does not recognize the existence of schools in Maasai Mau.

“There are absolutely no government registered schools in the Maasai Mau. I therefore cannot comment on entities not known to the government,” said Natembeya.

Natembeya was responding to claims that schools are yet to re-open for third term a week after they were re-opening.

The county commissioner said there are schools nearby that were not affected and parents can take their children there.

Earlier he had indicated that the schools had no teachers deployed by Teachers Service Commission an indication that they were not registered and not recognized.

“There are schools within the vicinity where pupils from the cleared areas used to move to, once in upper primary and candidates sit their examinations. They (the schools) have enough capacity,” he said.

15 schools were closed in the area and over 4, 000 learners cannot access education. Following the evictions which took place in July for ten days the pupils could not sit heir end of second term examinations.

The government issued a notice to illegal settlers who had encroached the forest while those who failed to leave were forcefully evicted.

Parents claim they are caught between a rock and a hard place and do not know what to do to their children and call on the government to intervene and have the issue addressed.

Richard Koech a parent at Olapa primary says barring them from re-opening schools is a big loss not only to their children but also the government which invested heavily in the construction of the school.

The construction of schools in the area and initiation of other development projects he says encouraged their stay in the area.

“The government funded the construction of the schools, it invested lots of money and we being told they will not be utilized. Who fooled the other,” he said.

He calls on the ministry of education to intervene and the matter be addressed once and for all.

Their children he says are being denied their right to education.

Geoffrey Towett says they are confused and don't know what to do.