Military personnel patrolling the district

With the military security operation that was undertaken, fear, tension and anxiety that has bedeviled Mt Elgon and adversely affected education in the area.

Many students have dropped out of schools whereas many parents have transferred their children to other schools outside the district.

The most affected areas are Kopsiro and Cheptais Divisions which were worst hit by the issue of insecurity that has dogged the district for the last two years.

Students attending various schools in the area are still learning in fear and some teachers are afraid of teaching in some schools. Chebyuk primary school that is right inside the disputed Chebyuk Settlement Scheme, which is the epicenter for the controversy in the district, is one of the hardest hit schools.

The school’s head teacher Mr. Stephen Chemonges who is also the Mt Elgon Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Assistant Secretary confirms that four girls expected to sit for this year’s national examinations had dropped out of school due to pregnancy.

He further reveals that five more had stopped learning in favor of marriage. “The local KNUT office is in the process of ascertaining the exact number of pupils who have dropped out of school in the district as a result of pregnancy and early marriages,” said Mr. Chemonges.

He attributed the cases that he describes as quite regretful, to the militia groups and security personnel deployed in the area. “Lets not be blind folded to peddle lies when our children are suffering. The security personnel and the militia groups should hold themselves with decorum,” he said.

Mrs. Jane Chebet a teacher at Chemuses primary school in Cheptais division, and who is also the KNUT women representative in the district suggests that the government should re-locate the military base at Kapkota primary school. She observed that their presence at the school has affected the pupils’ performance. The landings and taking off of planes has diverted the attention of the students,” she explains.

“Unlike vehicles, the children are not used to seeing the planes move around the district. So their concentration is likely to be affected by their movements,” she said. Mrs. Chebet further says that the presence of armed soldiers at the school’s grounds sends a wave of fear amongst the pupils, parents and the teachers as well.

She notes that standard of education in the area will be compromised if the government does not take into consideration the safety of learners and learning institutions in the area. Some parents have transferred their children to other schools outside the district for fear that their performance might be affected if they continue with their studies at the school.

“Every parent wants his child to perform well at the end of the day but with the never ending security operation in the area, the situation is not conducive for learning,” said Mr. Chemonges. He adds that some children may have been enlisted to work as house helps whereas others have dropped out of the schools due to fear of renewed clashes.

He said that some teachers were reluctant to return to their former stations after the government temporarily allowed them to teach in schools that were less affected by the chaos. He also said that there were increased indiscipline cases amongst the pupils as some have copied the inter-clan conflicts existing in the area.

Many children are now residing in camps because their homes were torched down by the security personnel and the militia. This he noted had promoted immorality amongst the children as they were even exposed to their parents’ and other adults’ lifestyles.

He added that there was need for rehabilitation programmes to be started in the district to help the children who had been affected by the insecurity.

Mt. Elgon County Council Chairman, Benson Chesikak, who is a member of the district Education Board maintained that the long term solution to the district’s woes were to address the land ownership anomalies.

“The land question gave birth to the militia groups whose confrontation with the security personnel aggravated insecurity in the district,” said Mr. Chesikak. He added that the insecurity eventually affected the education system as children and teachers could not be comfortable in a volatile environment.

The civic leader claimed that his Emia ward in Chepyuk phase III, which is one of the three phases that constitute the entire settlement scheme was the worst affected as nine primary schools and one secondary school in the area had been closed due to the land ownership dispute.

The schools were closed in response to the government’s ultimatum that nobody should settle in the Chepyuk phase III piece of land, which measures 5000 acres until the ownership row was addressed.

The District Education Officer Mr. Willie Lang’at decried the rising school drop-out rates in the district. He said that though the district had an enrolment of 46,773 pupils in its 103 public primary schools against last year’s 46,400 pupils, facts on the ground were opposite. Some students he admitted had moved from their schools at the peak of the insecurity menace.

He disclosed that pupils from Kopsiro in particular had reduced from 12,000 registered pupils in January to the current 6,844 pupils.

“We can’t rule out the possibility that some might have been transferred to other districts following the insecurity that adversely affected education in this district. But, the many pupils who have dropped out of schools is worrying,” said Mr. Lang’at.

The division has a total of 32 schools and some of the 1,020 teachers in the entire district were still afraid of reporting to schools in the division.

He added that education remains important for all and sundry and no one should derail the learners’ concentration and interest in studies.

The district Children Officer Geoffrey Musoko also admitted that there was high rate of school drop-outs in the district and said they were still collecting data to ascertain the exact number of the pupils affected.

“The children’s office is still collecting data that will be compared with other stakeholders’ findings in order to formulate proper intervention measures. Those responsible with messing with children’s right to education will have to face the law,” Mr. Musoko warned.

Though the district seems to be on the road to recovery, peace will eventually be restored in the volatile district but at a cost. The education sector will take time to get back on its feet and a number of parents especially those with the potential to invest elsewhere have relocated their children to ‘safer grounds’. A place where their children can at least, concentrate on studies without any ugly incidents.