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Parents in last minute rush as schools re-open

Tuesday, July 27th, 2021 00:00 | By
Joyce Wainaina of Patmat Bookshoop in Nakuru assist William Winger to fit school uniform yesterday. Photo/PD/Raphael Munge

Long queues and crowded shops were witnessed in various parts of the country yesterday as parents made a last minute dash to buy books, uniforms and other learning materials for their children as schools re-opened for First Term. 

The same situation was replicated in the matatu termini where school children sought transport back to their learning institutions after a 10-day break and what promises to be an event-filled new term. 

Parents who spoke to the People Dailydecried what they described as prevailing harsh economic conditions saying they had been forced to do shopping at the last minute because of lack of funds, attributing to Coronavirus financial implications. 

“I borrowed money from a bank using my tea plantation as collateral to ensure that my son goes back to school,” said Maureen Mumbi, a resident of Gatundu North. 

Run out of stock

“Even after the hustle, I have spent hours here waiting to purchase the books required.

I will also have to pass by supermarket to purchase all the items needed at the school,” she said while queuing outside one of the bookshops in Thika Town. 

Most parents who spoke to the journalists in Thika, Ruiru, Juja, Kiambu and Gatundu towns said that life had become unbearable since the onset of Coronavirus last year adding that majority of them are struggling to meet their obligations. 

As parents struggled their way to prepare children, pupils from Mwihoko ward in Ruiru, Kiambu County started the new academic year in a new environment after a new school was opened in the area.  

At the same time, the completion of Mutuya primary schools in Mwihoko ward has brought to an end congestion that has been witnessed in the past in Mwiki and Mwihoko public primary schools.

The school which has been constructed by the National Government through Ruiru NG-CDF kitty is expected to enroll at least 1,500 hundred learners therefore easing overcrowding at the Mwiki and Mwihoko primary schools.

Area MP Simon King’ara who opened the institution told the press that another school, Manguo Primary in Kiuu ward will be opened early next month thereby ending years of congestion in neighbouring schools.

“This institution sits on a five-acre piece of land and we will continue expanding it to enroll our target number of 1,500 learners,” he said.

Some book sellers in Kisii town said they had run out of stock and told the parents to wait for the books to be delivered from Nairobi even as parents got impatient.

Josephine Omanwa, a bookshop operator said the demand for books was high, adding the sellers were striving to ensure the parents and guardians got the books recommended by various schools.

Parents said they were stressed shuttling between bookshops and banks to pay fees, adding the short holiday had put pressure on them.

“It has been hectic moving up and down. I thank God that I have managed to buy books and pay fees for my children” Moogi Onchaga, a parent. 

Meanwhile, the fate of learners in the banditry prone Kerio Valley remains unknown as schools reopened yesterday following renewed spate of attacks that has left about 20 people dead in the last few weeks. 

The region has witnessed rampant cases of insecurity between the warring Marakwet and Pokot communities which has left close to 20 people in the past one month alone. 

Teachers serving in the area vowed not to go back to their work stations until they are assured of their safety even as they accuse the Ministry for doing little to address their plight. 

“Armed bandits have been roaming this region freely and killing people but nothing has been done by the government yet it has the capacity,” said a teacher who preferred anonymity.

Criminal activities

Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i who toured the region last week issued a one week ultimatum to all herders in possession of illegal firearms in the troubled Kerio Valley to surrender them. 

Matiang’i who held a security meeting at Tot ordered the administrators in the area to immediately work with police and identity all criminal elements wreaking havoc in the region. 

  “We will no longer condone any form of lawlessness.  Just surrender or we come for you as we have the capacity to come for you,” said Matiang’i accompanied by Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai and top Rift Valley regional security team. 

Meanwhile, parents flocked various shops in the North Rift to shop for their children as the new academic calendar begin. 

A spot check in Eldoret yesterday revealed long queaus especially in uniform and bookshops even as parents complained of short holidays. 

“Schools should be directed to reduce fees as our children stayed for only two weeks at home. We have been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic as parents,” said James Talam, a parent from Moiben in Uasin Gishu County. 

Narok parents have been challenged to personally take their children to school instead of leaving them in the hands of strangers.

 Narok Parents’ Association chairman Joseph Ole Pareiyo said cases of girls going to their boyfriends on opening days and boys engaging in criminal activities have been reported in the past especially during opening days.

 “Sometime parents keep quiet thinking that our children are in school yet they are roaming around town, and in some instances end up not going to school,” he said.

 Ole Pareiyo who spoke to the media at his Narok office asked parents to allow all the school-going children, even those who were pregnant, to go back to school as the government offered free primary education and had subsidized secondary school fees. 

“Parents should encourage their girls to go back to school even if they are pregnant or have just given birth. This is because they too are capable of becoming important people in the society,” he said.

The parents in Kisumu County have been encouraged to keenly monitor the education of their children so that they help them secure a brighter future.

 The director at St. Paul’s academy in Mamboleo in Kisumu East Dorcas Omollo has pleaded with the parents to be a source of encouragement to their children, so that the children take matters of education seriously to guarantee them a brighter future.

 “We are still there for many years and they grow and catch up with us and some say I want to be a doctor, an engineer, so we give them what they need so that tomorrow when they grow up they become people we can be proud of,” said Omollo.  — Reporting by Mathew Ndung’u, Wycliff Kipsang, Robert Ochoro and KNA

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