Boni Schools Resume Learning One Month Late
One month after schools reopened for the third term, students from terror-prone Boni in Lamu county returned to class.
More than 100 students had been stranded at home due to insecurity and transportation issues.
Boni students attend the Mokowe Arid Zone Boarding Primary School.
The school was founded in 1992 to serve students from underserved communities in Lamu County, such as the Bonis, Sanye, and Orma.
They had previously had to be airlifted to their school due to security concerns in their area.
Al Shabaab militants have repeatedly targeted the main road connecting the villages to the rest of Lamu, planting improvised explosives that target security vehicles and civilians.
Since 2014, the Mokowe school has served as a permanent learning centre for over 300 students from the Boni community.
Between 2014 and 2017, militants torched and vandalized the other five schools in their villages, forcing teachers to flee.
Hundreds of Boni students from Grades 3 to 8 trekked for kilometres from their homes in Basuba, Mangai, Mararani, and Milimani over the weekend.
They met at Kiangwe, near the Lamu-Somali border, where the county government had dispatched a boat to pick them up and drop them off at school.
Shee Kupi, Lamu County Disaster Response Director, led the exercise.
Due to insecurity, Kupi stated that it was impossible to pick up the students from their respective villages. As a result, they were advised to walk to the boat’s location.
The use of vehicles to transport students to school was ruled out because the roads are vulnerable to al Shabaab IED attacks.
In 2017, four students and four police officers were killed in Ota after their vehicle collided with a landmine planted by al Shabaab.
The students had hiked to school and taken a ride on the Rapid Border Patrol Unit vehicle.
The students were travelling from their village in Mararani, Boni forest, to Kiunga Primary School, which is located on the border.
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Such incidents make residents wary of driving on public roads. It has become difficult for Boni students to travel to and from school.
On Monday, Charles Mzee, the headteacher of Mokowe Arid Zone Primary School, confirmed that all Boni students had arrived at the school over the weekend.
Boni Schools Resume Learning One Month Late
