Pupils learn the hard way as cattle raiders disrupt life

From a distance, two round-shaped structures at Yatya Primary School in Baringo resemble modernised traditional huts.

These unique structures were water tanks that now act as dormitories.

On the right side stands an incomplete dormitory, its floor covered with cow dung, an indication that the herders bring their animals to spend the night there every evening.

This dormitory served as a safe house for livestock in 2013, when residents sought refugee there to escape attacks by cattle rustlers.

“If I let the pupils go home, I am not assured that they will report tomorrow because people keep moving for fear of attacks by cattle rustlers,” says the school’s headteacher Thomas Kiburet.

One tank hosts 16 boys, while the other holds 15 girls, nine of whom are hoping to sit their KCPE examination next month.

“I opted to allow six girls who are in Class Seven to board because I feared that they may drop out of school and get married,” says Mr Kiburet.

Due to insecurity, he says, families prefer to marry off their daughters in areas viewed as safe.

With a population of 300 pupils, the school is among the most highly populated in the area. But there are only four teachers.

“Nobody wants to teach in this area,” says Kiburet.

In the makeshift dormitories, mattresses are a luxury. Pupils have to sleep on old gunny bags and they do not have anything to shield them from the cold and chill of the night.

At Kagir Primary School, about 30 kilometres from Yatya, one classroom is divided into two to serve both Standard Seven and Eight pupils.

At a corner within the class, two wheelbarrows are piled with gunny bags.

“The gunny bags act as mattresses for the boys who sleep in the classroom at night,” says Mr Petro Chirchir.

The only three girls in this class live with the deputy headteacher, Ms Selina Cherono, at her house near the school.

Mr Chirchir says that since the candidates missed almost two terms last year, teachers teach up to 9 p.m. and over the weekend, to try and cover the syllabus before exam time. 

Last year, 25 pupils who were supposed to register for KCPE examination failed to do so after an attack at neighbouring villages in December 2012.

Mr Chirchir says he had to beg parents to bring back their children to school in May 2013, when it was already too late to register for the national examination.

Some mud-walled classroom blocks bear huge marks, a testimony to destruction by the assailants. Mr Chirchir says it is difficult to repair the damaged walls as water is a scarce commodity in the area.

“The rustlers also made away with our school flag, utensils and books,” says Mr Chirchir.

A few metres from the school are iron-sheet walled structures that are supposed to host police officers. But no officer has ever been posted there.

Some of these structures have been destroyed by wind.

Baringo County Commissioner Peter Okwayo said the government has increased police presence in the area.

However, he said that at least two schools have been permanently closed while others in the county are on and off.

He said the national government is gradually restoring security to ensure uninterrupted learning in schools.

“Rivalry among local pastoralist communities like the Tugen, Pokot, Ilchamus and Turkana has caused conflicts that affect education,” Mr Okwayo said.

“Each community wants to own more cattle and others want boundaries moved to expand their land,” he said.

A parent at Kagir Primary School, Mr William Kibet, said their children are disadvantaged because they are expected to compete with pupils whose learning is never interrupted.

“If they are expected to compete with pupils in peaceful areas where education is never interrupted, then the government is biased,” says Mr Kibet.

He said the government should consider special entry qualifications to high schools for pupils from hardship areas and also consider them for scholarships.

“Our only hope for development lies in education because livestock keeping has been paralysed by cattle rustling,” he said.

Local politician Richard Chepchomei said politics was to blame for the menace.

“The rustlers usually come in hundreds… such a number of people can only accomplish their heinous mission with political goodwill and support,” said Mr Chepchomei.

He said police should deal ruthlessly with rustlers.

“I do not understand why a person who steals a cell phone armed with a kitchen knife is charged with robbery with violence while a cattle rustler, armed with a firearm, is charged with a lesser offence,” says Mr Chepchomei.

He said the national government has ignored Baringo and other pastoralist areas.

Like the county boss, Mr Chepchomei said land and livestock drives communities to turn against each other.

He said the government should sponsor local residents to take up teaching courses for them to later teach in Baringo because very few “outsiders” will agree to serve in such an insecure area.

Mr Kiburet says each time gunshots are heard fears of a possible cattle rustler’s attack drives families away. “I keep assuring the pupils of their safety yet I, too, don’t feel safe,” he says.

***

TEACHERS TAKE TURNS LOOKING OUT FOR RUSTLERS

When you first meet teachers at Kapindasu Primary School in Baringo seated around a table in the open, you will probably think that they are basking.

But the truth is that the teachers in this school in Baringo South have to stay outside and keenly listen to any gunshot sounds, just in case cattle rustlers attack.

At any given time, at least one of the eight teachers has to keep watch.

“In July this year, a gunshot was heard when both teachers and pupils were having lunch outside,” said Mr Francis Kibowe, the headteacher, adding “We all ran inside and locked ourselves up, hoping against hope that we would not be attacked.”

For the next week, he said, there was no learning as both pupils and teachers fled to safer places.

Kapisandu is among schools that are yet to recover from the effects of insecurity in Baringo.

Before the December 2012 attack, he says the school had a population of 490 pupils.

But the number has dropped to 186.

“I cannot account for the missing pupils, some may be in other schools, others dropped out while some girls got married off,” said Mr Kibowe.

Worse still, the school does not have any pupils in Class One.

The school is situated in a deserted area with the closest homes being about seven kilometres away. It neighbours Laikipia and East Pokot and residents fear that rival communities may strike any time.

The school’s immediate neighbour and a Class Eight parent, Ms Hellen Kangogo, has not gone back to her home since January last year when she fled following a cattle raid.

“I live with a friend as I don’t feel safe at home,” she said.

Her daughter is among 20 candidates who hope to sit the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination this year.

The pupils have been forced to board in classes to ensure they cover the syllabus.

Two police reservists who spend the night in the school compound are their only hope should raiders strike.

At Loosampurpur Primary School, there is only one structure which also serves as the staff quarters.

However, teachers, like those in Kapisandu, operate from under a tree.

“When the pupils see us outside, they are assured that we are alert and, this way, they concentrate on what they are learning,” said Enoch Lebene, the headteacher.