At least fifteen schools in the flood hit constituency of Budalang’i in Busia County will not be able to reopen due to the effect of floods. The schools including Musoma primary and secondary, Rugunga and Igigo among others are either still under flood water or are still being used by flood victims as campsites. Half of Bunyala south is still under water since the floods hit the area from January this year.
Area Member of Parliament Hon. Raphael Wanjala has said that learners and teachers from the affected schools would be relocated to other places. Also, flood victims camping in some schools would be relocated to other places to allow learners use the schools, “The DCC will coordinate the exercise to ensure that learning continues in our sub county.”
Speaking after receiving a Kenya Red Cross team in his area led by Director Dr. Asha Mohammed, Wanjala however appealed to the national government to come in and help learners financially since many families were hard-hit by the floods, “Over forty thousand families were affected by the floods and many parents will not be able to cater for the needs of their children when they go back to school. I therefore call upon the government to help the learners financially.”
Locals on the other hand are calling on the government to make roads to the affected schools accessible instead of relocating learners and teachers, “Water has dried up in most of the schools. The only problem is accessibility to the schools because roads leading to the schools are under water. The government should therefore renovate the roads instead of relocating learners and teachers.” They also want the government to provide temporary toilets to the schools since most of the school toilets sank due to flooding.
