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Drama as pupils, teachers block Mbagathi Road over school demolition

The pupils placed their desks across the road and sat on them, blocking traffic in the morning rush hour before they voluntarily moved away to give way to motorists/MOSES MUOKI

NAIROBI, Kenya, May 15 – There was drama on Mbagathi Road Monday when pupils from Kenyatta Golf Course Academy blocked the highway to protest demolition of their school.

The pupils placed their desks across the road and sat on them, blocking traffic in the morning rush hour before they voluntarily moved away to give way to motorists.

Led by their teachers, they continually chanted, “We want our school, we want our school, we need to study in school!”

The school was demolished over the weekend following a land dispute.

“I like my class and I like studying. They have now removed our class and there is no way we can study. All students want is to study,” one of the pupils stated.

They demonstrated outside the school with their parents who expressed frustration as they had already paid fees.

“It is easier when we are given notice because parents had already paid schools fees. Now we are in a fix because we did not have any notice,” one parent complained.

“We are demonstrating because we did not have any notice to vacate. When we opened, we were not informed and they only came on Saturday to demolish the school,” another said.

The teachers also expressed worry that the demolition has cut short their employment and they now have to look for other jobs.

“Even me I have been affected and this is the second term and they did not even inform us. If they had told us during the first term, we could have known where to go but as at now, we are in a fix,” one of the teachers said.

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The parents were in disbelief at what they termed as cruelty since most of them were struggling to come up with funds to pay fees for their children.

“What we want to request the official who led the demolitions is that he should organise somewhere for our children to study. I am a hustler and I always walk on the streets selling maize cobs to raise fees. Where will I start from now,” a woman who goes by the name Mama Garvin stated.

“I struggle to pay school fees for my children. I do a lot of things some of which I am not proud of just to raise the fees and this happens,” another woman stated. “The government should come in and assist us as this is really depressing.”

The demonstration was reminiscent of the one in 2015 when hundreds of pupils from the nearby Lang’ata Road Primary brought down a perimeter wall erected on their playing ground.

READ: Pupils teargassed as wall at Lang’ata school demolished

The pupils had placards with various messages against the alleged grabbers of the land.

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