By Talarus Chesang
At the calm foot of Morop Hills in Baringo Central barely 10 kilometres off Kabarnet town along the Kabarnet-Kituro-Marigat road, stands a secondary school that has fallen and risen three times so far.
This has been attributed to alleged unresolved land wrangles and lack of good will among members of the neighbouring community.
Kapkomoi Secondary School was established back in 2016 and six years down the line it has only five teachers, two active classes – Form One and Form Two – and four students – one in Form One and three in Form Two.
“Initially there was only one student until last month when we held a meeting with the parents, then we got three more students,” the school Principal, Nicholas Choge said during an interview with Education News.
The principal is the only Teachers Service Commission (TSC) employee and is assisted by four teachers hired by the school Board of Management (BoM).
Mr Choge cites low student enrolment as one of the major challenges at the school and blames the issue squarely on lack of good will by the surrounding community.
When approached for comment, an elder who sought anonymity said that some parents opted to withdraw and transfer their children to the neighboring schools like Kipkaech and Kaptorokwo.
“They complained of poor structures and lack of water and electricity but I don’t think those were enough reasons. I guess there is still an elephant in the room.” he said.
Despite the overwhelming underutilization of government resources at the school and his services as a qualified teacher and an administrator, the principal is optimistic that with time things will change for the better.
Recently, the area Member of Parliament (MP) Joshua Kandie allocated Sh4.2 million National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) funds to the school to aid construction of modern classrooms and a 100-bed capacity dormitory.
Furthermore the construction of Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) junior secondary classes in the school is nearing completion.
Seretunin location Chief Patrick Kiprop said that he will brainstorm on ideas with stakeholders to prevent the school from being shut down by the ministry ahead of the directive by Education CS George Magoha to deregister ghost learning institutions.
He called on parents to support the principal by admitting more of their children to the school.
