The head teacher of Riara Primary school in Kiambu sub-county Reverend Harrison Gachanja has expressed shock that thieves have stolen a manhole from an institution where their children go to.
Speaking to KNA during the ongoing construction of the dining hall in the school on Saturday Rev Gachanja regretted that efforts being made by stakeholders in education were being dampened by the thieves who are compelling the school to incur more money to replace whatever they had stolen.
The school head said he suspected the thieves were residing in Ngegu area and that as they returned to their homes, they identified anything on their way which they could steal to go and make quick money irrespective of the damage they were doing to the school children’s lives.
He reiterated that despite the lockdown necessitated by the Covid -19, children will at some point resume learning and that it was the responsibility of the community to be responsible and protect the school property and not to steal or destroy it.
Reverend Gachanja said the manhole had been connected to the water system that was launched by Kiambu Member of Parliament Mr.Jude Njomo and stolen hardly before a month was over.
He regretted why during the launch of the piped water to the school they did not opt to have the system completely installed inside the school compound so that nobody tampered with it.
The headteacher reminded the residents that the security of the school property was a collective responsibility with the community since the children who schooled there did not come from far.
“Why do you steal from your own children? He interrogated the rationale of efforts made by other people if the parents of the children stole the water infrastructure therefore making the school incur more funds to do a repeat job.
At the time KNA arrived at the school, the manhole was gaping dangerously and even posed dangerous to anybody passing near the school at night or children playing nearby. The masons had been instructed to construct a concrete one so that they replace the one that had been stolen.
He advised his counterparts to keep an eye on anything that was installed outside the compound in the wake of COVID-19 that vandals were now preying on stealing anything they could make monies from at the expense of the comfort of the children in school.
The recent launch of the piped water to the school will enable it become a boarding school by January 2021, said the head teacher. He said the provision of the precious commodity was important to the school as they could now upgrade and enable the pupils to become boarders, and therefore devote more time to academics.
The school already has a boarding block which has remained unutilized for close to 3 years after it was constructed through NG-CDF.
By Lydia Shiloya
