Nauyapong Comprehensive School is undergoing a major transformation after many years of mud walled classrooms. Safaricom Foundation is constructing classrooms, dormitories, an ICT laboratory and other facilities at the school.
The development will serve learners from Kenyan and Ugandan pastoral communities living along the border. New modern structures now stand within the school compound and draw attention from many passersby.
The school previously operated with mud walled classrooms for many years before this project began. Mr Francis Lopeyok is the school’s Head of Institution and a proud former student there.
He later became a teacher at the school before taking up its top leadership role. He said the area was initially a banditry prone zone due to armed cattle rustlers.
Poor roads and persistent drought made the terrain difficult for the school and its learners. Those conditions kept school enrolment very low for quite a long time, according to Lopeyok.
He wrote a detailed proposal to Safaricom Foundation seeking help for much needed school development. The foundation carefully considered the proposal and eventually agreed to support the whole project fully.
Safaricom Foundation agreed to construct sixteen new classrooms at the school for its many local learners. It will also build two dormitories for boys and girls, each holding 400 learners comfortably.
The project includes one modern ICT laboratory, a new water installation and an administration block. The various infrastructure projects are now already ninety per cent complete at the school today. Official handover to the school is expected very early next year after all final checks.
The completed school will serve learners from many different pastoral communities across the wide border. These include the Turkana and Pokot communities in Kenya and Karamojong and Tepesi learners nearby.
Lopeyok said the school will be a game changer for education in the entire region. It will also improve education standards and support economic transformation for all local pastoral communities.
Peace Masses at the border have also greatly boosted stability among local pastoralists in the area. The Catholic Dioceses of Kitale, Lodwar and Moroto jointly lead the very important annual initiative.
This year’s peace Mass was held at Nasal in Amakuriat, Pokot North and was well attended. Bishop Henry Juma Odonya of the Catholic Diocese of Kitale led the solemn annual event. The peace efforts have greatly improved relations among the Turkana, Pokot and nearby Ugandan communities.
Lopeyok said he was once a young proud learner at Nauyapong Primary School many years ago. The classrooms then were made of mud, and he wanted to change that bad situation. When he became the Head of Institution, he sought better ways to improve the school.
His goal was to better the lives of all current learners through good quality education. He believes successful community members should improve the economic and social wellbeing of their communities.
The new facilities are set to greatly raise overall education standards in the local border region. They will now serve many young Pokot, Turkana, Karamojong and Tepesi learners from both countries.
The project is expected to contribute to long term economic transformation and broad local empowerment. It will also greatly strengthen close ties between many local Kenyan and Ugandan pastoral communities. The official handover early next year will mark the important next phase for the school.
