Bungoma High School at pains to justify new Sh3m gate

The management of Bungoma High School has explained why it had to use some Sh3 million to put up a modern gate, complete with a confinement room.

Besides giving the school a new look, administrators said, the gate will help tackle insecurity.

The project, launched last week, has attracted attention on social media platforms, with some Kenyans questioning the management’s priorities.

Nation.Africa has established that a meeting has been set up with alumni of the school on April 2 to discuss other infrastructure developments.

The school in Bungoma town sits on 66 acres and has 1,600 students.
It has been rocked by student unrest and fires, among other insecurity incidents.

Western Region Director of Education Stephen Barongo attended a ceremony on Friday to launch the construction of the gate.

Part of the project includes putting up a confinement room where unruly students and suspicious characters will be detained as police are notified.

It will also have an office for security guards and washrooms for visitors. There is a room for the head of school security and a place for visitors to store luggage.

“No visitor will be allowed (into) the school without going through all the security protocols. We believe this will help minimise theft and drug supply in the school,” Principal Enock Andanje said.

Mr Andanje claimed peddlers had been selling drugs to students, citing a case where a bhang seller used to operate outside the school gate.

Speaking at the launch, Mr Barongo lauded the school for the decision to build a new gate, saying it would help keep students safe.

School unrest

“We are very impressed with the move by the principal of this school to come up with such a fantastic initiative of ensuring that the school gets a modern gate. Other schools should also emulate this,” he said.

Reached for comment on the new project, Mr Andanje told the Nation students had asked for a new gate.

"We, as a school located in the middle of Bungoma town, have experienced cases of insecurity, school unrest and fires in the past,” he said.

“We had an open forum where we discussed with students how to contain some of these issues and one of the suggestions that came from students was that we come up with a modern gate and also fence the school."

He claimed that students had also complained that the adjacent Bungoma DEB Primary School had a better gate than theirs.

"We therefore had to do a facelift by coming up with this modern gate to match the status of this school that was built in 1961,” he said.

Mr Andanje said the construction will be funded by savings from school fees.

The Sh3 million, he said, will be used to put up the gate and improve sections of the perimeter wall.

Mr Andanje, who was posted to the school in May last year, assured parents that the school will carry on with infrastructure developments to ensure a safe learning environment for students.

"If we can get funding from well-wishers, we will be able to put up a perimeter wall around the rest of the school," he said.

Mr Barongo assured exam candidates in the county that the ministry will support them ensure they write their papers in a conducive environment.

He also urged headteachers to ensure that their schools stick to exam regulations to avoid the risk of results being cancelled.

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