Hunger brings learning to a grinding halt

By Joe Ombuor

The air is hot, the sun scorching from clear skies that have not known rain-bearing clouds for long. The prevailing atmosphere is sapped of life. Singed bush spreads out as far as the eye can see.

That is Kaningo in Mwingi North Constituency — a place wrought with hopelessness. Drought and famine have conspired to drive pupils out of school, making nonsense of free primary education programme that is the pride of the Government.

As folks and their animals starve, birds and their cheery warbles are rare, most of them relentlessly hunted for food, leaving only butterflies and other winged insects to rule the air. Philip Manandu Primary School, so named in memory of the area’s most famous son who had his life cut short with bullets fired by a deranged policeman in 1985, illustrates how much drought and famine have affected education here.

When not in class listening more to the pangs of hunger in their bellies than to their teachers, pupils lost for what to do cluster around, listlessly plotting their next move towards survival. Some do not return to class, wandering into an uncertain life beyond the hedge of dry, thorny shrubs that serve as the school fence.

Dry jungles

Yua, Kikamba for famine, is palpable here. With no food at home across the dry jungles, pupils such as 14-year- old Jones Nzoka, a KCPE candidate, have thrown everything academic to the winds. After weighing his options across the school fence, he sauntered home to bid his family goodbye and set off for Meru, many kilometres away where casual jobs were said to be available. He walked and hitchhiked part of the way.

His distraught parents were happy when he finally sent some money home through a neighbour. They thawed their hunger for several days and wished him God’s blessings.

Casual labour

The headmaster Julius Kithome says four other Standard Eight pupils have been forced out of school by famine and into casual labour. Many others in lower classes have followed suit and gone to Meru, Mwingi, Kitui, Matuu and other places to work for food, unbothered about learning. "I do not blame them.

These children cannot concentrate on their studies on empty stomachs, knowing all that awaits them back home are starving parents and siblings," says Mr Kithome.

He says free primary education is a flop in areas such as Kaningo where his school alone has seen its population drop by half in the last one month.

"This school’s population is down to below 250 pupils from the usual 500 since the school opened for third term. Surrounding schools such as Siveta, Kalumu, Kyenini and Kamali are equally affected," he laments.

This area is going to lose out terribly on education if the Government does not intervene through a feeding programme, more so for the candidates.

Kithome says the last time the school-received school feeding supplies of food was in July last year. "We got 50 bags of maize and 10 bags of beans that ran out by the beginning of this year," he says.

The headmaster regrets that the hunger situation will badly affect results this year.

"We had a candidate with 341 points last year while 17 others scored 250 points and above.

Forgotten

My fear is that we might not take any children to provincial schools this time round, not because teaching is poor, but because famine is eating into their studies.

As drought ravages Kaningo in Mwingi North constituency, famine relief for residents has been at best, erratic with the last supplies received three months ago. A parent at Philip Manandu Primary School says the last relief received was two kilograms per family.

"I sell hay on market days to people still owning cattle to make a little money," says Rebecca Kamene, a mother of eight, as she laments that the Government has forgotten them.

"What future do we have when our children have to quit school and do casual jobs because they have nothing to eat? The Government should make sure that school children have food, even if we, the adults are going hungry," she says.

About 23km away at Tseikuru Primary School where Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka had his early education, the story is different.

The school, says Deputy Headteacher Fidena Mwendwa, is struggling to cope with increasing population of pupils who keep stream in to benefit from the feeding programme.

"Our regular population is 549, but the number has gone up by more than 100 since the school reopened for third term," says Mrs Mwendwa.

She says pupils come from far-flung areas to live with relatives working at the new Tseikuru District headquarters and seek enrolment at the school.

 

 

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