Kongoni Primary School

The look on the faces of pupils at Kongoni Primary is that of happy, joyful kids as they dance to a celebration during the closing assembly at the end of the term.What the picture won’t tell are the challenges and hardships the students and the teachers have to go through every day just to achieve their objectives. 

Kongoni primary school is located in Taita Taveta county, Mwatate sub-county in Bura zone Maktau location. 

As a new school that was started in 2016, Kongoni Primary now has seven classes with a roll of 179 the school. The institution will be having KCPE candidates for the first time in 2020, as the current class seven has already been promoted to class eight so they can prepare for their Kenya national examination at the end of the year.

Some of the challenges the students and teachers experience are because the institution is in a wild life corridor in the semi-arid region. Due to the harsh weather conditions, the community live from hand to mouth and limited access to commercial activities forcing the parents to rely on help from the government, relatives outside the county, and other well-wishers. Further, farming is unsustainable as the community is right next to Tsavo West National Park. As a result, they are often attacked by wildlife animals mostly Elephants that penetrate the fence in search of water in the neighbouring village.

Kongoni students, at the corridors of Tsavo national park

Currently, the government has concentrated on providing lower primary classes, from class one to three, with reading materials.

As a result, they have neglected the upper primary classes, from class four to eight, and acquiring course books is a challenge at Kongoni primary school.