A Nyamira County secondary school that topped the KCSE examinations charts last year is building a Sh200 million complex of a multi-purpose hall and a modern library that the management estimates will serve generations to come.
Nyambaria High School that surprised the big boys of academics last year in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination by posting a 10.89 mean score against a background of murmurs that became a subject of a parliamentary probe that concluded that there were no major anomalies.
To midwife the project, Nyambaria — now christened Kenya One by students and teachers — has got the attention of senior government officials, including Deputy President Rigthai Gachagua who will preside over a fundraiser early next year. A few months ago, the Ministry of Education donated Sh50 million for the project, a step that saw the school promise it would suspend payment of Sh5,000 per student for the grand project. Unfortunately, the figure has been doubled to Sh10,000 that must be paid together with the Sh30,000 first term fees perhaps to prepare for the harambee that has been postponed more than once. The total Sh40,000 term total payment– equivalent to what extra-county schools pay for the whole year– is expected to raise eyebrows among parents and guardians who have perennially fought and lost a slew of illegal fees and levies that schools impose in search for good KCSE grades. Schools will reopen from January 9.
Also Read: Kenyans review ‘sleeping giant’ Kenya National Library Service
According to Charles Onyari, the school’s chief principal, the complex is the institution’s “main project” for 2024 that he is urging parents and guardians to support “for generations to come enjoy this facility”. For more than three years in a row, parents have been paying Sh5,000 per student for the mega project.
Nyambaria has about 3,000 students, a big population that has seen the school expand its infrastructure, including the just completed three-storey science complex that houses a science laboratory, staff rooms, and dormitories. Also taking shape is a tuition complex while the multi-purpose hall is in the works, parents have contributed more than Sh10 million annually.
“To facilitate the completion of this project, each student is expected to pay KSh10,000 (ten thousand shillings only) that was approved by the Ministry of Education,” Mr Onyari said in the school’s third term newsletter dated October 25, 2023.
Before Mr Onyari took over, Nyambaria’s stellar performance is believed to have been chiselled by Boaz Owino, who is credited with turning around Maranda High in Siaya. Mr Owino joined Nyambaria in 2018 and has said in press interviews that it took him a lot of effort to register top grades at Nyambaria.
editor@aplain.co.ke
