MP targets sh. 200m in his ambitious “Adopt-A-School” Programme.

Thika Town MP Patrick Wainaina engaging with students and pupils from the various schools he visited in Thika West Sub-County on Thursday.

Thika Town MP Eng. Patrick Wainaina is targeting to raise KES. 200 million to completely overhaul and transform all the 36 public primary and 15 day secondary schools within the constituency.

The money, according to the first time legislator, will be raised through funds from the government aided NG-CDF kitty and from companies and well-wishers under the “Public-Private Partnership” (PPP) initiative.

Speaking on Thursday during a tour to various schools within the constituency, Wainaina said that he was shocked at the deplorable state most of these schools were in and associated some of these challenges to the rate of truancy among learners and the undesirable results in national exams.

“Some of these schools lack even the very basic infrastructure such as classrooms and sanitary facilities. As much as we are very interested in the performance of these learners (in national exams), most of them are in very deplorable state, something that demotivates both learners and their teachers,” he said.

Wainaina said that his priority now was to kick-off the programme using the little money allocated to his NG-CDF account to set pace for the well-wishers to follow suit.

“With KES. 20m of our KES. 85m CDF allocation already spent on bursaries and another KES. 20m earmarked for emergencies and other logistics, the balance of KES. 45m left behind for development is not enough for all the over 50 schools. That is why we are asking our friends in the private sector for external assistance to accomplish this goal,” he noted.

“Otherwise, we have earmarked to maximise the usage of the KES 45m we have so as to set very good example by making the best out of the limited resources we have. This way we will attract more people into our ‘Adopt-A-School’ programme.”

The MP also called for a paradigm shift among the learners and teachers, challenging them to set pace for the creation of the next set of job creators and not jobseekers within their schools.

While admitting that schools were currently facing myriads of challenges, the principal Broadway High School Joseph Wanderi thanked the MP for his intervention.

He partly blamed part of the problem on an increase in enrolment especially after the government implemented the 100% primary-secondary transition of learners which his said had outstretched the capacity majority of the schools.

“The 100% transition to secondary education has outstretched the capacity in almost every day school in Thika, forcing some of us to use make-shift classrooms to accommodate the excess students,” said Wanderi who also doubles up as the chairman Thika West Principals Association.

The general observation in the schools we visited painted a very sad picture as majority of these institutions lacked most of the basic infrastructure. Students and pupils were learning in overcrowded classrooms which some cases lacked enough furniture.

Some of the secondary schools had been forced to convert dining halls and laboratory rooms into either classrooms or dormitories so as to accommodate the excess students. In some, they lacked enough sanitary facilities and were threatened with closure due to the health risks they were exposing their learners.

That notwithstanding, some of these institutions have to make do with perennial flooding due to poor drainage.

The teachers were not spared either as some lacked proper staff-rooms and administration blocks necessary for them to properly execute their duties.