Kenyan schools reopened this Monday, May 13. The start of the school year was postponed by two weeks, due to floods which left 277 dead. According to the government, more than 90% of the country’s establishments were able to reopen their doors and students from schools that remained closed had to be accommodated by other establishments. But in Mathare, the capital’s slum most affected by the floods, that’s not how it happened.
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With our correspondent in Nairobi, Gaëlle Laleix
In Mabatini, a district of Mathare, the Why Not Junior Academy school is still closed. Since the floods, several families have found shelter in its premises.
Veronica, a player on the school soccer team, is one of them.
“ We are cleaning up so that the students can return and the school can reopen, she explains. We were given two weeks to stay here, time to get back on our feet and leave. We have just evacuated classes to move into the dormitory. »
In the establishment, volunteers are working to repair the school. Dominic Otieno, its director, hopes to reopen within the week: “ We need to remove the mud, evacuate the families who live here, buy new books and reading materials and rebuild offices. Our plumbing was completely destroyed, even the water tanks. We must therefore repair all of this before we can reopen in good conditions. »
Dominic Otieno estimates the work to cost 200,000 shillings, or more than 1,400 euros, a fortune for this community school which receives no subsidy.
Rebecca, whose son is a student at Why Not, is in despair at not being able to send him to school again: “I’m worried because we have no books, no house… We can’t pay school fees because we don’t have a job. So my son can’t go to school and there’s nothing we can do about it. And that’s important, I want him to have a bright future. I don’t want him to live like me. »
According to the Kenya Parents’ Association, nearly 200 schools across the country have still not been able to reopen their doors.
“Schools must share their infrastructure”
Contacted by RFI, Silas David Obuhadsa, president of the Kenyan Parents’ Association, is satisfied with the outcome of this crisis.
“ The government, he said, has given instructions about where schools will not be able to reopen. He was very clear. There are around 200 schools that have been badly affected by the floods. These schools will not reopen until further notice. They will reopen later, when the authorities have been able to put everything in order. »
“The rest of the schools – more than 10,000 – can reopen. Of course, that’s a large number of closed establishments, but that doesn’t really depend on the government; it is a natural disaster that the authorities cannot control.
“ Meanwhile, the authorities have offered the possibility to parents of children whose schools remain closed to send them to study in other nearby establishments. This is a very clear policy. Schools must share their infrastructure. And at the same time, the authorities will identify these displaced students and they will be able to know how many children are affected by these floods. We are very comfortable with that and we support this policy which allows children to go to any school, for the moment “, underlines Silas David Obuhadsa, president of the Kenya Parents’ Association.
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