African Woman and Child Feature Service

 For children in areas affected by the post-election violence, school is one area they would avoid if they had an option.

Stories coming from the affected areas indicate that children are being subjected to tribal slurs and persecution for belonging to certain communities.

One such child is Marceline Wambui, a standard seven pupil at Kakamega primary school in Western province.

As if the pain she suffered when her books were burnt and her family forced to live as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp at Kakamega police station was not enough, her schoolmates are inflicting more pain on her.

When she reported back to school recently, she was met with abuses from her classmates, some of whom were her former best friends.

She reported the matter to the school head teacher who took action immediately.

“The head teacher told me to keep quiet whenever I am called names but to report such pupils to him. Even as we talk they still abuse me and other pupils from communities they do not like but we just keep quiet,” she adds.

The head teacher, David Ikunza, says he intervened immediately he heard some pupils hurling tribal epithets at fellow pupils. 

“I started a guiding and counseling department to address the matter as well as taking action against such children,” he says.

Mr. Ikunza says that the school serves all communities and all Kenyan communities are free just as the Ghanaians, Pakistanis and Indians who also go to the same school.

“So far we have over 200 internally displaced pupils but the number continues swelling on a daily basis,’ says Ikunza.

Wambui is now happy and hopes that the peace deal that was signed last week between Hon Mwai Kibaki and Hon. Raila Odinga will make her friends like her again.

She also hopes with this deal, they will her parents will get money to buy books and meet the costs of tuition.

With the deal, she knows her school will not be under police surveillance the way it has been, making it look like a dangerous place or one harbouring criminals. 

The presence of security was necessitated by threats issued to Mr Ikunza by some people, threatening him with dire consequences for admitting children that belong to “enemy communities.” 

Wambui and her head teacher further hope that with the deal, funds will follow into the school to reduce the overcrowding in the classrooms. With over 74 pupils in each class, many of whom being displaced children, the school suffers from a shortage of desks and books. 

Recently, a well wisher donated Shs 30,000 for the purchase of desks. But this was just a drop in the ocean. 

The school management committee has employed six extra teachers that include two for Early Child Development (ECD). 

“Our Free Primary Education book provisions have been affected badly as all pupils are forced to have 4 exercise books instead of the approved 12,” says Mr. Ikunza. 

The increasing number of pupils is also threatening the school performance in national examinations. 

If nothing happens now, the hopes Wambui has about the future will fizzle out to be replaced with despair.