Webuye West MP Dan Wanyama and Webuye West sub county Quality Assurance Officer Eliud Maruti have called for the closure of Matulo Friends Boys Secondary School. The school had been set up by the community to ease congestion in Matulo RC and Matulo Girls Secondary Schools, according to residents. While addressing community residents, Bungoma ICT Director Leonard Wakoli affirmed that the school was started to ease congestion in the two aforementioned schools, given the high number of students enrolled.
Wakoli said the ‘dream’ of having a Matulo Complex, that will include a Primary School, Girls’ and Boys’ schools, a College and a University has been in existence for long, and some people in the past had already provided land for the construction of Matulo primary and Matulo health centre, adding that as a community, they are ready to support the new Boys’ School. Prof. Paul Nasokho, an ICT expert at MMUST, held the same view and said the school was set up in good faith and urged the area MP and the Education Ministry to support the project which will benefit the community. He said it will also provide job opportunities, coupled with education.
However, the Webuye West Quality Assurance Officer Eliud Maruti said the process of schools’ registration has changed since the enactment of new policies, and schools are required to have more than 5 acres of land, enough classrooms and toilets, adding that the school in discussion, Matulo Friends Secondary School, didn’t fulfil the required policies. He said the school had been closed down several times but residents still went ahead and operated without the proper and clear guidelines, and he reiterated that the school must be closed as the community and leadership work on the policies.
His sentiments were echoed by MP Dan Wanyama who said the school should be closed and students sent to other schools, but gave the interim committee time to continue with the construction until next year, and if they would’ve fulfilled the required guidelines by then, they can start enrolling students and get funds from the government to aid their operations.
