Pupils playing at the former Goodrich schools on Monday. The school is now a public institution. /MOSES MUOKI.
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 13- As we approached Mukuru Community Centre (MCC) in Imara Daima- what was until last week a costly private institution known as Goodrich Schools- we could see a crowd that had gathered at the main entrance.
Their story is that of hope where there is none but driven by the urge to take their children into what is now an affordable public school, with excellent facilities- in an area where the main ‘cash crop’ is education.
After all, Embakasi South constituency, where the institution is located, had only one public primary school, creating a major vacuum, which private investors have filled without mercy. MCC is the second public-owned school.
To the residents, news of free primary education is an old tale told so many times, and is only music to the lucky lot.
“They are saying that the school cannot admit more students,” a visibly disappointed parent told Capital News.
Giving up would mean she arms herself with school fees, not less than Sh15,000, for her three children, currently enrolled in a ‘cheap’ private school within in the informal settlement.
Another resident, who identified himself as Mbatha described the situation as, “dire and one that needs the National Government’s intervention, if at all they care about the future of this country.”
On a normal day, parents would be driving to drop their children, while ten s of school buses would be dropping others – but none of that was happening on Monday when Capital News visited the school.
On this day, the pupils walked to the school, sat on the floor- generally due to lack of sits in a crowded classroom- and during lunchtime, their parents brought them food.
Pupils from various schools in a class at the former Goodrich Schools which was converted into a public school. /MOSES MUOKI.
The spacious dining and theatre hall is no longer functional, while the smoke that would be billowing from the school’s kitchen chimney was missing – but that did not dim their hope.
It is on January 7 when the Government repossessed the community centre that had been grabbed and converted into a private school, and since then, at least 3,500 pupils from the informal Mukuru Kwa Njenga slum have been enrolled.
A school that hosted some 900 students is now holding thousands, while more have been locked out due to lack of space, as parents race against time to move their children to the centre, now known as Mukuru Community Centre.
The school, which was put up by Kenya Airways as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility is located in the densely populated Embakasi South constituency, which despite being in the City of Power, has only one public school.
It is a worrying situation that has forced thousands of its residents to turn to overly exploitative private schools.
“We have no more space. Imagine all these young children had been denied a chance to study in a public school, which is way affordable than a private one. For example, one would pay at least Sh100,000 every term when it was Goodrich,” Asher Baridi, a community leader said.
Capital News established that at least 48 teachers have volunteered to work in the school, while every available space, including the staff room, has been converted into a classroom, due to surging numbers.
After years of running battles with police, the community members said they have conquered over the impunity and now the rule of law has prevailed.
“Rule number one, don’t make noise, rule number two, obey your teachers,” a grade one pupil could be heard repeating after their teacher, from one of the three-stream class in the three-storey institution.
Monday’s class was about rules, which if they were followed, nearly a decade ago, the school would not have been illegally allocated to a private developer.
“We can’t recall how it changed ownership,” Habib Abdullahi, a resident said of what was a community centre in 1994.
Parents and community members have urged the Government to move in with speed and add the required infrastructure, deploy teachers and preferably locals and designate a school attire- since the current situation paints a cocktail of uniforms, representing the schools the pupils were before.
The school was repossessed after documents revealed it is supposed to be a community centre.
Parents have even defaced the school name but are yet to re-name it after reclaiming it to be a public school. /MOSES MUOKI.
“The school is one of the structures in this whole land that will be returned to the community. Any other structure apart from the three (church, administration camp, and school) is illegal. The exercise to return this school to the community has not started today, but a long time ago and it has not been easy. We have written several letters to the National Land Commission and other agencies,” said Kenneth Murungi, Embakasi Sub-County Deputy County Commissioner.
In 2015, he said, “we got a response saying the land was put aside for national government administration, church and school.”
Already, an investigation has been launched to establish how the school was grabbed, with a motive of bringing to book those who will be found culpable.
“We as the security committee in Embakasi have started investigations into how this land was transferred from the community to a private individual. Already, statements have been recorded and we are also looking for some individuals to come and tell us how they were involved in this transfer. Once investigations are complete, action will be taken,” the DCC said.
[youtube v=”wa3UpeIvBgU”]
About The Author
