Kariandusi Primary School
Date started: November 2003
Date completed: January 2005; Extended April 2008; Extended again May 2010
Cost of project: £55,000; Extensions cost a further £25,000
Size of school: Single stream school built for 350 pupils; Now a double stream school for 640 children
One liner: A stunning school that is much admired by many who drive past on the Nairobi to Nakuru road. Its popularity is accounted for by the large influx of displaced children following the election debacle on early 2008.
Picture before:
The mud school prior to October 2004.
Picture after:
The view of the school from the Nairobi - Nakuru road in 2005.
Current Status: Completed
More info: The first Handover Ceremony was held ahead of schedule on 14th February 2005. Since the post election violence of early 2008 it became urgently necessary to help the Internally Displaced Children (IDP) who wished to settle in peace in the area. Following a very generous response from numerous supporters in England, four semi-permanent classrooms were constructed in April 2008. Many desks, chairs and tables were provided together with hundreds of much needed text books. Insufficient teachers was causing standards to drop so the charity now shares the cost of the salaries of four additional teachers, some of whom are also IDP from Western Kenya.
The second extension of a further four semi-permanent classrooms became necessary when it was realized that the majority of IDP were unwilling to return home. We have insisted on green corrugated iron sheets be used to help blend the buildings into the landscape. We have incorporated rainwater harvesting arrangements (gutters to the verandahs, downpipes and a underground pipes to move the excess water from the buildings. The popularity of the school locally has contributed to a steady increase in numbers.
There is very little room for sports fields on this rocky sloping site. A quotation for a measure of levelling was given that proved outside the ability of KST to pay.