Learning has been disrupted at Chief Banda Primary School in Likuyani Sub County after walls of two classrooms collapsed following heavy rains in the area. According to the school headteacher Mrs. Phyllis Mukaisi, the incident which occurred on Sunday night has left a total of 128 pupils without classes.
She said it is suspected the walls were weakened by heavy rains in the area on Saturday, adding that the affected classrooms were being used by standard three and four pupils.
However, she said no one was injured in the night incident since none of the teachers or pupils were in school when the catastrophe struck.
“Had it happened during class time, it would’ve been disastrous and we would’ve been counting casualties, but fortunately, it happened at night,” said the headteacher adding that she was notified of the incident by the school’s night security guard.
Mrs. Mukaisi said the incident was not a surprise as the walls had evident cracks. “We’ve been cautious with them, but we had no choice because we don’t have enough classrooms,” said the headteacher. She said currently standard one and two pupils have been forced to share one room with a section of pupils facing the front while others at the back of the class. “Currently we have standard one and two pupils sharing one room and that is not good for the children, they won’t be able to hear anything,” she said.
The headteacher said they were thinking of using the affected building but the remaining section of the classroom faces a possible collapse and poses a great danger to the pupils, thus, the whole structure has to be brought down.
She estimated the total damage at Kshs 800,000 and appealed to area leaders and wellwishers to come to the aid of the school, arguing that the institution was
facing shortage of classrooms.
“I am appealing to various education stakeholders including the Ministry of Education, the national government, handlers of the Constituency Development Fund and even the County government to come to the aid of this school so that we can put up new classrooms and create a good learning environment for our children,” said Mrs. Mukaisi.
“At the moment, standard three pupils are taking their lessons out in the open field,” she said, “It’s important we first look for a temporary remedy as we continue working on a permanent solution.”