Schools with dilapidated infrastructure are set to receive facelift following the government’s move to allocate Ksh1.3 billion ($10.1 million) for their development.

The announcement was made on the back of embarrassing media reports and pictures that showed students in northern and north-eastern Kenya learning in extremely hazardous environments, including dilapidated classrooms.

The announcement was made by Education Cabinet Secretary Migos Ogamba at Limbine Primary and Junior School in Tigania West, where he presided over ground-breaking ceremony of school infrastructure improvement project funded by Safaricom Foundation.

The cabinet secretary acknowledged that school infrastructure in counties such as Tharaka Nithi, Tana River, Turkana and many others were in deplorable state. However, they would be improved in the next two years, he promised.

The minister said the infrastructure development in the ministry was not done following lack of sufficient resources in the last few years.

“There were no figures for infrastructure development since there were no figures allocated for the same following the withdrawal of the Finance Bill (last year). This year, however, we have allocated the Ksh1.3 billion for this purpose and we are analysing the neediest schools, including Tharaka Nithi County, which has a total of 42 such schools,” Ogamba said.

He added that all such infrastructure will be improved sufficiently throughout the country in the next two years.

“We are working even with our development partners and sponsors to ensure we support each other in that space, so we can provide those classrooms needed and improve others,” Ogamba said, adding that the ministry will continue raising more resources to ensure 100 percent infrastructure support in schools.

He thanked Safaricom through the Mpesa Foundation for partnering with the national government through the ministry of education to improve school infrastructure.

“This is the kind of partnership that we have been talking about as a ministry because the government needs the support of all the partners and sponsors, including Safaricom and the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NGCDF),” Ogamba said.

Safaricom Foundation PLC Chairman Joseph Ogutu said the improvement of infrastructure facilities is part of the citizens of the future programme, an initiative of Mpesa Foundation.

He said the foundation will be renovating classrooms whose structures are still strong and also put up new ones for implementation of Competency Based Curriculum (CBC).

“We will also be constructing fully equipped science and ICT laboratories and an administration block to enhance a good environment for teachers to prepare to teach our learners,” Ogutu said.

He added that ICT and science are key features of the improvement programme because as a technology company, Safaricom is committed to ensuring that learners are equipped with digital skills to contribute to the digital economy.

“We will also put-up an ablution block for both girls and boys. All these works will be completed in the next 24 weeks, meaning that they will be ready for handover by November this year,” Ogutu said.

He added that the Foundation were doing this in every County and the idea is to cover 600 schools for the next three to four years.

Area MP John Mutunga lauded Safaricom for choosing the school in his constituency among many and supporting them in several other institutions including construction of a Ksh150 million business development and commercialisation centre at Meru University of Science and Technology (MUST).

“The support by Safaricom and the ministry of education to our learning institutions cannot be taken for granted. As one of those participating in development of infrastructure in education sector, I believe this is a major boost ever to the little we put under NGCDF,” Dr Mutunga said.

He said as a constituency, a step forward has been made in transforming all learning institutions from what they used to be to academies, a program they are terming to as academisation.

“We want to see to it that we are the best in terms of academic performance within Meru County and the entire country at large,” Mutunga said.

• A Tell Media KNA by Dickson Mwiti