Residents of Kangu in Mwea, Kirinyaga County are seeking construction of a primary school in the village as the available ones are very far.
John Njera is one of the parents in the area claims that their children have to cover long distances to get to the closest school, which is over 5 kilometers away. This in return causes fear in parents as the children also have to cross the busy Embu-Mwea highway to get to school. Some students have to use bicycles to get to school on time.
“The closest school is Nyangati Primary School which is about 6 km away. However, our children have to cross this busy highway, where vehicles move at an alarming high speed. The other two schools that are nearby are Mutungara and Gakuo primary schools, which are three and four kilometers respectively,” said Mr. Njera.
Poor performance
“To make their way to Mutungara, our children have to pass through a thicket that is not safe at all, while those making their way to Gakuo have to pass through a thicket and the Murubara river that has no proper bridge and floods often whenever it rains,”Njera added.
Lydia Wanjiku, another parent, said girls are the most vulnerable adding most parents have to accompany them in the morning and help them cross the highway. She also said most children perform very poorly due to body fatigue from the long distances.
“Their performance deteriorates by the day. They hardly concentrate in class because of fatigue. We are always anxious about our children’s safety as most of us are not present to help them cross the highway in the evenings. We have also been pushing for the construction of a permanent bridge along River Murubara which is yet to be accomplished,” said Wanjiku.
Lack of land
According to area member of parliament Kabinga Wachira, they allocated some funds in 2018 for the purchase of land for the proposed school but were unable to get some three acres of land as required by the Ministry of Education for the registration of the school.
The funding was then relocated to Kangondo Primary School which was identified as urgent. Both Kangondo and Kangu proposed schools are in the same Nyagati ward. Kabinga said he has asked the community to look for land where the two schools can be established. He also assured that concerned department will be contacted to put up bumps and Zebra crossing along the Murubara and Nyangati area.
