It is a sigh of relief to students and teachers of Butere Girls National school in Kakamega County after the school that was established in 1957 received Ksh. 90 million from various donors to have its structures and other features refurbished to modern standards.
The money was donated by deputy president William Ruto, his wife Rachael Ruto who is an alumnus of the school and her fellow alumni among other well wishers to improve the face of the school that is full of old buildings build haphazardly with no proper plan and design.
The School principal Jennifer Omondi told www.westfm.co.ke that the school is full of old buildings that are scattered all over the 35-acre land that it sits on hence the money shall offer an opportunity to redesign and structure modern buildings.
“We are going to overhaul most of the buildings and draw a design that will make the school like a modern school and the roads within the school are also going to be tarmacked,” said Mrs. Omondi.
She noted that lack of proper design and structuring of the buildings has had negative effects in performance of the girls who are subjected to walking long distances close to a kilometer from one unit to another hence eating into their learning time.
“The school is big because it sits on a 35-acre piece of land and you realize that we cannot manage time well because of the buildings that are build haphazardly with some of them being condemned and that is why we want to use the money to build the school in a more organized way that shall also save on time,” she added.
It takes students quite some time to walk from the dining hall to the classrooms that are situated over 800 meters apart including the dormitories and laboratories.
However the principal appreciated the donation that saw Ksh. 30 million come from the school alumni led by deputy president William Ruto’s wife Rachael Ruto, Ksh. 30 million from the national government and Ksh. 30 million from the corporate.
“We are happy because at least for once we are going to build the school the way we want and this has made everybody to work very hard and the girls are encouraged after realizing that there are people out there including old girls who are ready to support us,” the principal said.
She thanked the old girls for giving the school a lot of support including the initial support that helped the school have the buildings painted especially the classes and further helped erect the lighting system in the school.
Teachers and students were also not left out in appreciating the donation which they said would transform the school in many ways.
The students’ president Joy Ingabire told www.westfm.co.ke that the overhaul of the school shall help improve in many ways including modernized infrastructure especially laboratories, dormitories and classrooms among other structures.
“With the Ksh. 90 million we hope that we are going to get more modernized laboratories, improve and increase space in the dormitories and classes that are efficient for all the students and also we hope that the money shall help purchase a second bus to ease the strain of using one bus,” she said.
Her deputy student’s president Sharon Momanyi thanked the deputy president for the generous contribution to the school that he initiated with his wife Rachael hoping that it will turn around the look of the school especially in infrastructure.
Mr. Stanley Mutuli a physics teacher who spoke on behalf of all teachers appreciated the donors saying the school shall have a facelift and look like other national schools in the country.
“We look forward to our school being better than what it easy because from 1957 when this school was started, the buildings have remained the same but with this initiative of her excellence and the alumni we are positive that atleast we shall have a facelift that will make this school look like a national school,” said Mr. Mutuli.
He pointed out that the move shall also give students morale to improve on performance and raise the mean from the current mean of 8.81 to higher grades that shall realize improvement as the students self esteem improves with modern structures and other factors.
Butere Girls that was elevated to national status four years ago is six-streamed and has a population of 1400 students whom the principal said may rise to up to 2000 students after the facelift using the money donated to it by the donors.
Among old students of the school include prominent leaders in Kenya such as former minister Naomi Shabaan, former Funyula MP Professor Julia Ojiambo, Lady Justice Rosa Nandwa, Justice Wasilwa and Lady Justice Grace Barasa among many other personalities.
