Malunga Primary School Siaya - Western Kenya
Location and Site: The School is located 3km from Ngia Market, Western Kenya. The site is 3.4 acres and has a large football field there are also many large trees and bushes. There are mango, coffee and avocado trees on site, maize and kale are also grown. The school is built on community land donated by the government. Students: There are currently approximately 270 pupils in the primary school and a further 44 in the Early Childhood Development centre. Class sizes vary with an average of around 34 children per class: the classrooms are small for this number of students especially the bigger classes and there is generally a lack of desks and chairs. Last year all 20 Class 8 students graduated and went on to secondary school. The school was top in there zone for class 8 exams results and received a trophy for being most improved by the KCPE. Teachers and School Management: The school currently employs eleven members of staff; 8 government funded and 3 funded through the community and the parents of students. The format of the committee is that there is a parent representative from all the classes, the head teacher is also in the committee, there are also 2 people from the district education board and a further 3 representatives from the community church. Each year the committee vote for a chairman. There is a total of 15 members in the committee, 6 who are female and 9 who are male. Support from the Authorities: The school is given 1020 shillings per child per year by the government. The school has had some support from charities in the past including, the installation of two water tanks and two toilets blocks (for girls and teachers) by KWAHO, another charity named Care International gave the school small poly tanks for pupils to wash their hands and drink from. All internal exam costs are paid for by the parents of students.
School Facilities: The original classrooms were built in the 1950’s and further classrooms were added in the 1980’s. The teachers building was built in 2009 and toilet blocks were added in 2011/2012. Currently there are 9 used classrooms and 4 unused classrooms all in varying states of disrepair. There is a fairly large staff building, 4 toilet blocks (2male, 1 female, 1 teachers), small kitchen and cow shed. The block that was built in the 1950's more than likely needs knocking down and re-built but the block that was built in the 1980's just needs renovated.
The state of the facilities (as of October 2013) is as follows: ECD: 3rd classroom in block of 6, build in the 1980’s, 5.5m by 7.5m, glass in windows, broken concrete floor with lots of holes, no desks just benches, a few posters on the wall, ceiling ok. CLASS 1: 1st classroom in block of 6, built in the 1980’s, 5.5m by 7.5m, glass is installed in the windows but some are missing or broken, cramped with 3 to a desk, desks and chairs old, no posters on the wall, concrete floor with holes and bumps, ceiling ok. CLASS 2: 2nd classroom in block of 6, built in the 1980’s, 5.5m by 7.5m, glass is installed in the windows but some are missing or broken, cramped with 3 to a desk, couple of posters on wall, desks and chairs look old, concrete floor with holes, roof rusty. CLASS 3: 4th classroom in block of 6, built in the 1980’s, 5.5m by 7.5m, glass is installed in the windows but some are missing or broken, cramped with 3 to a desk, no posters on wall, desks and chairs look old, concrete floor with holes, roof rusty, walls ok. CLASS 4: 5th classroom in block of 6, built in the 1980’s, 5.5m by 7.5m, no glass in the windows just shutters, no teachers desk, cramped with 3 to a desk, no posters on wall, desks and chairs look old, concrete floor with holes, roof rusty, Ant nest at back of classroom which they remove every day and it comes back every night, large crack in wall dividing class 4 and 5. CLASS 5: 6th classroom in block of 6, built in the 1980’s, 5.5m by 7.5m, no glass in the windows just shutters, no teachers desk, cramped with 3 to a desk, no posters on wall, desks and chairs look old, cracked concrete floor with holes, roof rusty, large crack in wall dividing class 4 and 5.
CLASS 6: 1st class room in block of 7, but is an extension off the original block, 5.5m by 7.5m, no glass in the windows just shutters, no teachers desk, cramped with 3 to a desk, a few posters on wall, desks and chairs look old, floor had been concreted when put in but has come away, roof rusty, jiggers, no step into classroom. CLASS 7: 2nd classroom in block of 7, built in the 1950’s, 5.5m by 7.5m, no glass in the windows just shutters, no teachers desk, cramped with 3 to a desk, a few posters on wall, desks and chairs look old, dirt floors, jiggers, massive cracks and holes in the wall some through to class 8, posters on the wall, door and window frames in really bad condition, rusty roof. CLASS 8: 3rd classroom in block of 7, built in the 1950’s, 5.5m by 7.5m, no glass in the windows just shutters however some windows don’t have shutter and are just holes in the walls, no teachers desk, 2- 3 to a desk, a few posters on wall, desks and chairs look old, really bad cracks and holes in the wall and holes through to class 7 also holes in the blackboard, jiggers.
EMPTY 1: 4th classroom in block of 7, built in the 1950’s, 5.5m by 7.5m, store for firewood and old broken desks and chairs, weak foundations, original bricks are in bad condition, holes in the roof, jiggers. EMPTY 2: 5th classroom in block of 7, built in the 1950’s, 5.5m by 7.5m, class 8 were removed from this classroom last year because it was in such bad condition, foundations are weak, ants and jiggers, really bad cracks in the wall, small holes in the roof. EMPTY 3 AND 4: 6th and 7th classroom in block of 7, built in 1950’s, 5.5m by 15m, dividing wall has been removed in the aim to make it for use as a hall but no further action has been taken due to budget issues, was used as classrooms up until last year, all door frames and window frames removed leaving large holes in the walls, blackboards also have holes in them, dirt floor. CLASSROOM UNDER CONSTRUCTION: Construction has been started at the end of the block of 6 but leaving a small gap before the start of the block of 7 however only bricks waist high have been laid and the project was then abandoned last year due to funding issues, it was started by the community. WATERTANKS: Built in 2012 by KWAHO, there is 2 – one in the middle of the block of 6 and one in the middle of the block of 7, water is drained from the roof into the tanks when it is raining, these are still in very good condition however when it doesn’t rain and the water in the tanks has been used up it is a 3km walk to a stream to collect water. GIRLS TOILETS: Girls toilets were built in 2012 by KWAHO and are still in very good condition. BOYS TOILETS: Were built in 2011, but in very bad condition, doors have lots of holes in them and have rusted. TEACHERS TOILETS: Built in 2012 by KWAHO and are still in very good condition. COW SHED: Had a cow in it until it died last year but it is in good condition for a cow to be kept in however due to funding issues the school cannot afford to buy a new one. KITCHEN: mud and wood walls with rusting metal roof, open fire to cook on, only have one cook as no feeding programme so only makes tea for the teachers and porridge for the ECD. STAFF BUILDING: Built in 2009 by the community and contains a deputy and head teachers office, staff room and book store. All in very good condition apart from the book store which doesn’t have much order apart from putting books in shelves of the classes. PROJECTS: No future projects have been planned by the government or charities. The school would like to finish the classroom that has been started and buy another animal when there budget allows for it.
ISSUES (reported by head teacher, chairman and staff): 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19.
poor security, gate and fence don’t stop people from getting in no laptop or printer for data entry no electricity on site if it hasn’t rained and water tanks are empty then it is a 3km for water pupils are coming from far distances so can’t get home for lunch as they don’t have enough time so go without food many orphans attend the school shortages of textbooks and exercise books no games equipment no proper kitchen no first aid kit on site not enough desks and chairs for pupils state of the classrooms (schools top priority) no feeding programme low attendance on Tuesdays due to market day no animal anymore as cow it died no desks in the ECD and the benches they are using belong to other classes ECD don’t have there own building and are situated between classes 2 and 3 as there is no where else for them to go want more teachers but cannot fund more no library