Uncertainty at school where pupils share ‘bush classroom’ with snakes

Pupils at Salabani Primary School in Baringo County which has been affected by the water rise in Lake Baringo. PHOTO/ JARED NYATAYA

What you need to know:

  • The teachers’ quarters, the library, the school store and 18 toilets have been submerged as well. What was once the playground is now a mass of water, with a layer of greenish-yellow hyacinth.
  • Class Eight pupils are using the small church as their classroom to revise before sitting for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) a week from now.
  • Area MP Grace Kipchoim says a new school is being built on a 16-acre piece plot and will be completed before the end of the December holidays.

Salabani Primary in Baringo South is literally a bush school.

In the last two months, pupils have been learning in the bush, dodging snakes and hippos after the school was submerged by water from Lake Baringo.

Each class is assigned a specific tree, which also acts as an anchor to the mobile blackboards. As the more than 500 pupils compete for shade in the sweltering Baringo heat (currently 36 degrees Celsius) they also have to contend with insects and ants.

According to deputy headmaster Joel Chemjor, the flooding began claiming part of the school grounds in September last year. Two months ago, the entire school was under water.

“The children are very discouraged,” he says. “Snakes are crawling around as the pupils try to concentrate on their studies and the dust is also not good for them. Many of them have flu.”

SWIMMING PONDS

The teachers’ quarters, the library, the school store and 18 toilets have been submerged as well. What was once the playground is now a mass of water, with a layer of greenish-yellow hyacinth.

Salabani Secondary School students are using the partially submerged classrooms as bathrooms, oblivious of the health risk posed.

Teachers have been forced to take refuge in nearby houses, but those are just temporary premises as most of their property remains under water. Children are difficult to manage because they are all over the bush. But that is the least of their problems, as they live each day afraid that the swelling lake might also swallow their living quarters.

The 500 pupils use three mobile toilets, each five feet deep. Their teachers use toilets at Salabani Secondary School, which is a kilometre away.

Another threat is from Lake Baringo hippopotamus. The animals invade the area from 7.00pm and leave at 6.00am. Nobody dares be in the school compound between the two hours.

The pupils pupils have no shoes and have to contend with thorns of the infamous Mathenge bush and poisonous cactus.

“Even the pupils’ population has reduced drastically and our classes are leaner these days. Parents have resorted to transferring their children to distant primary schools such as Lomayana and Eldepe Isinya. The rest are here because they have no choice,” says Mr Chemjor.

The ground on which the school stands belongs to the local Salabani Catholic Church.

Class Eight pupils are using the small church as their classroom to revise before sitting for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) a week from now.

There can never be a more unsuitable place to learn and revise.

The small church is not only stuffy, but also too dark in the afternoons.

Sammy Sarikoki is a 14-year-old KCPE candidate He finds the environment too uncomfortable to concentrate on his revision.

“In the mornings, it is too cold for us and in the afternoon, it gets too hot and too dark. You can barely see. It is almost impossible to study in here,” says Sarikoki.

But the pupils and teachers have maintained their composure and remain cheerful. They are warm, welcoming and well behaved and they remain optimistic that they will one day have welcoming premises to call school.

ONE DAY AT A TIME

Some teachers walk eight kilometres a day to and from the school, living one day at a time.

“It is very frustrating,” says Mr Moses Kiptalam. “But we show up to work for the sake of these children, and particularly those in Standard Eight who are about to sit their exams. We have the duty to shape their minds and we are here to build their future.”

Several government officials, including Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph ole Lenku have visited the school in the last two months with promises of relocating them to other premises. But they remained just promises.

Area MP Grace Kipchoim says a new school is being built on a 16-acre piece plot and will be completed before the end of the December holidays.

“For now, Standard Eight pupils will sit their KCPE at the neighbouring Eldebe Isinya Primary School,” she says.

Baringo County Education office keeps saying that help is on its way. Pupils and teachers of Salabani Primary School are still waiting.

“The project (new school) is lagging behind and the problem lies in the community, who are not cooperating,” says Mr Kiptalam.

But according to Ms Kipchoim, work is ongoing and is set to be completed over the December holidays.

“The interior Cabinet secretary Mr Lenku promised to support us in whatever way he can and so far, iron sheets have been donated,” she says.

Another school affected by the Lake Baringo flooding is Ngambo Secondary School.