, KISUMU, Kenya, Jan 4 – Kibos Sugar Factory in Kisumu has been given an ultimatum to relocate Kibos Special Schools to a suitable location or risk being shut down.
Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. George Magoha says pupils and students learning at the schools are exposed to pollution as a result of the factory’s operations.
Magoha said: “The learners should not continue to suffer while leaders keep quiet and doing nothing about their plight.
He directed the area MP Onyango Koyoo to liaise with the County Government of Kisumu and Ministry of Education to find a better location within the precincts of the city for the schools to be relocated.
The CS says the earlier plan by the factory to relocate the schools far away from Kisumu town was rejected noting that the relocation must be within the city.
Speaking in Muhoroni Constituency, Saturday, when he launched bursaries for students joining Form 1 in national schools, Magoha said the factory must be ready to foot the cost of the relocation for the schools.
He says if the matter is not resolved in time then he will be forced to order for the closure of the factory to allow learning to continue in a conducive environment.
Magoha says leaders must now find a solution to help the learners who have endured the pollution since the factory was established in the area. “So we must have timelines for this one,” he asserted.
He says the government is keen on improving special schools across the country while applauding their remarkable performances in the last year’s national examinations.
“The government treats special needs students as “special” and now we don’t say they are disabled, they are abled differently. And in the last examinations you see how they scored A’s,” he enthused.
“The government will continue to set aside a little more money for schools that cater for children with special needs,” he added.
Parliamentary committees on education and labour have visited both the school and the factory after petitions were sent on the plight of learners as a result of air and water pollution in the area.
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