The incident at Guara Primary and Junior Secondary School, Nyeri County, last year on the 1st of September in which an aircraft en route to Nairobi from Nyeri crashed in the school compound, is one that remains in the memories of teachers and pupils. One of the classroom blocks had a gaping hole created in it as the fixed-engine aircraft tore through the school compound.
Light aircraft with five occupants including an instructor and a trainee pilot took off from Nanyuki Airstrip aboard registration number 5Y-CIU. Fortunately, they escaped with slight injuries and were treated and discharged from Nanyuki Cottage Hospital. It was equally good news for the pupils who had not gone out for their first break of the day.
It is said that, according to Paul Kabiru, chairman of the school’s Board of Management, the crash landing was a terrible experience, adding that it was on the same playground where the pupils usually took their break. Had the plane come down in the presence of the children, the disaster would have been far worse.
The aircraft was halted by the back stone wall of a derelict classroom, which acted as a barrier. The wall was reduced to rubble, and the classroom remains shuttered to this day.
The squabbling point now is the repair of the damaged portion between the school fraternity and Mt Kenya Flight School, owners of the aircraft. The management had first agreed to repair the damaged classrooms and had even sent a mason to estimate the cost of the destruction. The government, through the ministries of Education and Public Works and Housing, conducted a thorough survey where the amount for repairs was calculated at KSh123,598; this also catered for the replacement of five desks that were also destroyed when stones from the roofs of the classrooms shattered them into pieces.
Mt Kenya Flight School, however, has turned down any pledges to rehabilitate the wreck or pay for any costs in keeping. The administrator continued that the Ministry of Education has re-iterated the same in several letters and reminders. A November 30, 2023 letter by the Kieni East Sub-County Director of Education Abdikadir Haji gave directions to the flying school to hurry up with repair works by December 8, 2023.
What worries management is that the dealine for reconstruction is almost upon them. The damaged classroom was a donation from the William Holden Wildlife Foundation. This is a very important room needed for the smooth transition of Grade 9 students. The Board of Management, led by its chair, Paul Kabiru, knows quite well that the room has been out of use since the accident and was previously used for practical work. New cracks are emerging, and the building could be condemned by the Department of Public Health if the repairs are not done fast.
The angry parents have now given the flight school two weeks to have these repairs done, after which they plan to mobilize and occupy the flight school if their demands are not heard.
“We are running out of patience,” said one of the parents, Simon Kamangaru. “We cannot wait forever. Next week, we shall mobilize the parents and the pupils to camp at the flight school compound until our grievances are heard.”
Equally traumatized by the wrecked classroom, the students are still haunted by the same, with a constant feeling that another accident might occur. Numerous efforts to reach the management of this institution of learning in Mt. Kenya have gone into waste as the management has kept a cold and unresponsive attitude, thus leaving the entire school community in a state of limbo.