By Tony Wafula
Teachers and pupils of Musa FYM primary school in Webuye East Constituency, Bungoma County are caught between a rock and a hard place as they have to endure humiliation while answering calls of nature. Half of the pupils’ have been affected by jiggers as many are now deformed.
The school also operates without a teacher’s staffroom as teachers use a muddy temporary building to serve them.
Kitangala Mutengo, deputy head teacher of the school told the press that the school has been neglected citing lack of cooperation with parents and support from area leaders being the main cause of the problem.
Mutengo said that the school has a population of over 600 students, 4 teachers on board of management and 9 teachers employed by Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
He said that the school has less staffing making it difficult for teachers to serve the large population in the school.
“TSC should consider and give us more teachers, the available ones cannot serve the current population well,” he appealed.
Currently, the deputy teacher said that the ECDE class is using a muddy classroom risking the lives of pupils and their teachers.
“ The ECDE class is in a pathetic situation, it has a leaking roof and cracked walls which makes some teachers scared, forcing them to teach from outside with lower pupil concentration,” he noted.
He said that jiggers have also affected pupils which have dragged behind the performance of the school adding that the dilapidated latrines has also greatly contributed to the hike of jigger infection in the school asking area MP Alfred Sambu through NG-CDF to help the school build new latrines.
On KCPE performance, Mr. Mutengo said that the school posted poor results last year as their first candidate scooped 304 marks with the school recording a mean score of 199.0.
Speaking to Education news during an anti-jigger campaign, Pastor Abel Barasa of Agape Mission of Mercy Musikoma Bungoma said that he decided to focus on Musa FYM primary school to help combat jiggers among affected pupils.
Barasa urged the community around the school to embrace cleanliness in their homes and ensure that pupils wear shoes while at school.
