Un-gazetted land defy schools devt. in Chepkitale

Un-gazetted land defy schools devt. in Chepkitale

Right to education is one of the basic rights for children of the republic of Kenya but in some areas in the country there is a challenge of children accessing basic school amenities even as the government promises to roll out the laptop project soon.

The Ogiek community residing in Chepkitale in Mt. Elgon forest is a community directly affected by the challenge of educating their children due to poor infrastructure in the five primary schools available in the region the issue has been blamed for the land not been degazetted as a forest land.

M.t Elgon Sub County director of education Henry Lubanga said the area has five primary schools namely Iyaa, Laboth, Toboi, Kewoi and Tomoi saying they have temporal structures acting as classes as the government has not degazetted the land to have the residents take full ownership of the land.

He disclosed that the government has deployed some teachers to the schools but they are insufficient compared to the number of children in the schools saying the residents have been able to supplement that by employing teachers on the schools boards who have been able to sustain learning activities in the schools.

Mr. Lubanga added that they are hoping the government will soon degazette as a forest land after the land commission as well as the Bungoma County commissioner visited the area to get views of the residents regarding the matter saying the government will be able to pump in resources to develop the schools together with other donors.

However he singled out the issue of the community being pastoralists as another main challenge for the children in the region to access education since they have to shift from one place to another periodically in search of pasture for their livestock.

Irene Chemutai a pupil at Laboth primary school said they don’t have enough classrooms and teachers and even they share latrines with teachers and called upon the government to intervene and help them access education in a conducive environment for them to achieve their goals in life.

Mt. Elgon political activist Harry Kimtai however called upon the Constituency development fund to chip in and help develop infrastructure in the schools saying residents residing in Chepkitale are tax payers and have a right to access better services from government as it is being witnessed elsewhere in the country.