Only Seven of 527 Students Return to Mandongoi School Following Banditry Raid.
Mandongoi Primary School students in Kitui’s Mwingi North sub-county have been pushed out of school due to insecurity.
Following the last Friday raid by armed herders for the North Eastern region in the Kiseuni village of Mandongoi, during which a boy’s arm had been shot by a bullet, most people and school-aged children fled the area for their lives.
A visit by the media to Mandongoi Primary School on Tuesday afternoon revealed a ghostly school abandoned by students and teachers. The school gate was likewise locked, and classrooms were unoccupied.
During the visit, the school’s headteacher, Joel Maundu, who arrived after learning of the journalist’s presence, stated that the insecurity issue had severely hampered learning at the school.
Maundu reported that the school had a total of 527 pupils, but only seven attended that day. Additionally, only four teachers came to school, as they too were apprehensive for their safety.
He also mentioned that there were fewer students in school on Tuesday compared to 20 on Monday. He stated that another four schools in the neighbourhood were also abandoned.
Maundu urged the government to enhance security and provide reassurance to residents, enabling them to return home and allow their children to resume school. He noted that ongoing banditry attacks had historically led to poor performance by pupils in their KCPE exams.
Concerned about the current disruption, he expressed fear that the Standard Six pupils might also perform poorly in the 2024 KEPSEA examination.
“Incidences of banditry attacks have over the years made pupils in our school perform decimally in KCPE.”
Jeremiah Nyayo, a member of the school board of management, stated that children who were displaced due to insecurity were exposed to social concerns such as immorality, teen pregnancy, and abuse of drugs.
Kitui County Commissioner Kipchumba Rutto, who led the county security team to the region to investigate the situation after the armed herders attacked the people, assured them of their safety.
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Kipchumba Rutto urged the police to ensure adequate security so that students could return to school and continue their education. He emphasized that it was unacceptable for students to remain absent from school. Rutto made these statements during a security briefing at Mandongoi Trading Centre.
The County Commissioner informed locals that a security operation would be conducted to remove the armed and problematic herders from North Eastern Kitui County.
Only Seven of 527 Students Return to Mandongoi School Following Banditry Raid.
