By Mary Mwendwa
Effects of Standard Gauge Railway mega project are now being felt by neighboring primary schools.
One such school is Ilmao Primary school in Eukototo village Sultan Hamud in Makueni County.
The beauty of the railway coupled by concrete underpasses of the project reflects an advancement of development.
But, in this new development, pupils of Ilmao primary are suffering in silence.
To them, this project has brought misery, something that is affecting their education in a big way.
Damaris Mutula, a class six pupil from Ilmao primary school now walks for a longer distance.” Before the SGR project I could only take 30 minutes to walk to school, now I take one hour. I am forced to wake up very early in the morning so that I make it to school before classes start. I get here at school very tired and hungry too.” She explains.
Another pupil facing a similar predicament is Nkooti Tiya, he has been forced to board at the school because of the added distance he has to walk from home to school. ” I used to take 25 minutes to come to school but when SGR was completed I take up to two hours. I have to pass through a bridge take several turns before I reach school “.
Joshua Kiluva, a teacher at the school confirms how pupils are having less concentration when they arrive to school tired and hungry. “During a class time when the train passes, I have to stop teaching as pupils divert their attention to the wagons which pass making a lot of noise. We were promised by the Chinese Contractor that they will build a wall that will help reduce the noise but we have not seen anything up to date.
We have moved the kitchen which was very close to the rail and that has inconvenienced us because we had to build a new structure “
The school management had to make a quick decision about pupils like Nkooti to give them accommodation at the school. ”We were not prepared for this kind of arrangements, this school is a day school and when pupils started missing school and getting here late we have to think of an option. we have few pupils boarding here and we have to overstretch our resources to take care of them. ”Says Jacob Selenkeya , Headteacher Ilmao Primary School.
Mr .Selenkeya confirms how things have been bad for most of the locals demarcated and fenced their lands, thereby making it hard for anyone to go through their farms. This has made routes longer for pupils who are now forced to walk for long distances.
“The longer distances scared many pupils out of school. We now have only 164 pupils out of the 300 we had initially. This is a big blow to us as we have lost pupils who cannot now attend school due to the challenges that came as a result of the SGR.”He says.
According to Prof. Geoffrey Wahungu, Director General, National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) they are aware of the challenges faced by Ilamao primary school .”These challenges of bypasses which are affecting pupils have been noted by us and we have learnt from them.” Adding that they are going to ensure there are enough so that they do not repeat the same mistake and anything that will come up that was not in the initial plan will be sorted out .
Kenya Railways , Managing Director, Atanas Maina confirms that pupils in Sultan Hamud have been disrupted due to closed routes.
“Land owners have fenced their land , we are looking into ways in which these pupils will be assisted.”
More on how SGR will affect the environment: https://www.talkafrica.co.ke/sgr-will-destroy-the-ecology-of-nairobi-national-park-experts-warn/
