Schneider Electric installs solar power to school in Vihiga

Leading energy management company, Schneider Electric, has connected Village to Global School in Vihiga County to solar power in a bid to improve the welfare of the community it serves.

The initiative is part of Schneider Electric’s commitment to support communities to access energy.

Village to Global School support the less privileged children in the society and also seeks to improve the lives of locals. This it does through a school feeding programme while at the same time offering quality education to local children.

SEW UNIFORMS

At the same time, the school helps parents to engage in meaningful economic activities in order to uplift their livelihoods.

This is done through a tailoring department that trains the parents to sew uniforms for the children and they in turn earn a living from the venture.

The school, which has Pre-Primary One (PP1) to Grade Two classes, supports over 300 children who benefit from its feeding programme.

Through its Country General Manager in East Africa Edouard Heripret, Schneider Electric donated three electric sewing machines and installed an off-grid solar power system dubbed ‘Villaya Solar System’.

The system has been engineered to provided sustainable energy security, ensuring no maintenance cost. It is also environmentally friendly and comes with no power bills.

POWER

It will provide the school with power for operating the sewing machines, lighting and charging of electronic devices.

It will also enable the pupils to put in more learning hours while the teachers will now be able to online tools for use in the recently launched competency-based curriculum.

Speaking during the inauguration ceremony, the school’s director, Ernest Njinga, thanked Schneider Electric for the installation of the power system.

“Village to Global is extremely honoured by this generous donation by Schneider Electric. The electric sewing machines will help us refine the quality of uniforms that we produce here, giving us an opportunity to engage in self-sustaining entrepreneurship,” said Mr Njinga.

He said that the school will now be able to supply uniforms to other neighbouring institutions.

SUSTAINABILITY

“This, we hope, will in the long run make us sustainable enough to eventually support our own needs even in the absence of consistent donor funding and support,” he added.

He said the solar lighting system will enable the school to efficiently manage its operations.

“Even the simplest of things like allowing parents in the neighbourhood to charge their phones at the school will be an added bonus for us. Sustainable energy and education should be prioritised for the children of Kenya,” the school director said.

At the same time, Mr Heripret reiterated the need to ensure access to sustainable energy to people in rural areas.

“At Schneider Electric, we believe access to energy is a basic human right. We want every person on the planet to have access to modern electricity in the most reliable, safe, efficient and sustainable way. Such access is a necessary condition to reach better health, education, economic development, access to water, women empowerment and safety when night comes,” Mr Heripret said.

Schneider Electric has global presence in over 100 countries.