Parents snub order to transfer pupils from collapsed school

Parents and pupils of Precious Talent School camp outside the school's gate awaiting word on whether the institution will re-open. [Standard]

Charity Kerubo remembers the tragic events of the morning of Monday, September 23, all too well.

Kerubo, who The Standard team finds seated on a concrete block in the dusty playground of Precious Talent School in Ngando, Dagoretti South Constituency, does not need much prompting to speak.

“The lights went out, then the roof fell. We started running but the balcony collapsed on us. Someone helped me out,” the Class Eight pupil shyly recounts.

The girl and a few of her classmates, who are now school-less, silently scan the vicinity where their institution stands in ruins.

As a result of the building’s collapse, Kerubo is nursing a broken ankle. While her leg is now in a cast and she walks with the aid of crutches, her mother, Linet Kwamboka, is unable to afford the Sh55,000 required to properly treat her at the Kenyatta National Hospital.

Yet despite escaping death by a whisker, Kerubo insists she wants to remain at Precious Talent School and sit her KCPE examinations in the next few weeks, rather than being transferred to a different school.

Many parents who spoke to The Standard yesterday said they wanted their children to continue schooling at the institution, never mind that their children almost died when a building collapsed, killing eight pupils.

Exactly a week after the tragedy, visitors are greeted by padlocked wooden doors on rows of iron sheet classes painted blue. Pupils’ belongings, mostly backpacks, are heaped on desks inside the locked classrooms.

While the learning area remained closed off to parents and pupils, hundreds of irate parents and their children crowded in the playground and outside the gate where they demanded their books, backpacks and other belongings.

For many residents of Ngando and the surrounding areas, Precious Talent School presented a remarkable solution.

Some parents said they preferred the school for its exemplary performance, affordability, and ease of access.

They claimed that since the school's inception, it had enabled their children to perform exceptionally well at an affordable cost — charging approximately Sh21,000 each year.

Public schools

Ngong Forest Primary, Riruta Satellite Primary and Jamhuri Primary, the three public schools the Government asked the parents to transfer their children to, are deemed unsuitable options.

First, the parents explained, the three schools are far from their residences and require pupils to walk for up to three kilometres. Second, the parents expressed fears that their children would encounter security threats while traversing the Ngong Forest.

“We want our children to continue learning, especially for the Class Eight, as we seek a long-term solution. We are helpless and desperate; this is not the right solution,” said James Nyabuto, a father of two children at the school.

Mr Nyabuto told The Standard the school should be allowed to set up tents so pupils can complete the academic year.

“These children were in discussion groups and had close relationships with the teachers. Splitting them in different schools will affect their performance,” a candidate's parent said.

The parents also complained that the schools recommended by the Government performed dismally in KCPE examinations. “This school always tops. It always posts many pupils with over 400 marks,” remarked one parent.

Another parent claimed many schools locally had problematic structures yet the Government was only focused on Precious Talent.

But Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha said parents were being incited not to relocate their children hence the low turnout in recipient schools.

He spoke at Ayany Primary School, where more than 250 pupils are expected to report from their shut schools.

"Politicians have been confusing parents and that is why there is a low turnout in some schools. We lost eight children in the tragedy and it is not as simple as you may take it. I'm doing my duty to ensure this does not happen again," Prof Magoha said.