Ugandan learners caught in Kenya protests return home

Several Ugandan learners, who study in Busia-Kenya, are back home after their schools were closed due to fears of violent protests in the country.
Supporters of veteran Opposition politician Raila Odinga have since Wednesday been engaging in running battles with security operatives over the high cost of living.
 
While the situation is calm, many shops have remained closed and the usually busy Busia-Kisumu Highway is deserted. 
Since Wednesday, long queues of trucks were beginning to pile up on the Ugandan side of the border. 

Mr Henry Ocheng, a trader at the Busia border, said yesterday morning, several schools, especially within Busia-Kenya, had closed and students were told to go home. 
He said on a normal day, more than seven buses from Kenya cross the border to the Ugandan side to pick up learners, which has not happened since Wednesday.

“Most of the schools were Ugandans study across the border in Kenya closed yesterday (Wednesday),” he said. 
Many parents in Busia prefer to send their children to study in Kenya because the schools teach Kiswahili, which is not well-established in Ugandan schools.

They also believe that Kenyan nursery schools offer better foundation compared to those in Uganda.
Solomon Onyango, a Senior One student at St Mathias High School in Kenya, said while at school on Tuesday, they heard gunshots and teargas canisters explode next to their classroom.

He added that a student was shot in last week’s riots.
This publication was yet to verify this information by press time.
“Schools in Kenya were due to start end of term of examinations, meaning their closure may affect the academic programme,” Onyango said.

“I’m supposed to be at school reading in preparation for my end of term examinations, but because of riots, I am at home,” he added. 
Ms Annette Mukisa, a parent whose child studies at St Joseph Primary School, said her daughter is in a candidate class and that the closure of the schools may affect her performance.

The Kenya Interior Cabinet Secretary, Mr Kithure Kindiki, yesterday encouraged schools to reopen, saying the ministry had taken “adequate measures to guarantee the safety and security of learners”.
 
 Ms Josephine Apio, a resident of Mugungu in Busia Town, whose six children study in various schools in Kenya, said when she went to pick up some of them, many of the children had already left. 
She, however, said two of her children, who study at St Mathias High School and Kisoko School, were yet to return.

She added that there should be a quick solution to end the riots in Kenya so that their children can get back to school.

This publication has established that schools such as St Mary’s Nursery, St Mathias High School, and St Joseph Primary School were closed.
St Mary’s Nursery School, which has a bulk of pre-primary Ugandan pupils, was also closed but some of the children in whose parents had yet to pick them were still at the school. 

At St Mathias High School, authorities at the institution said they are monitoring the political situation in the country before making a decision on reopening.

Mr Eliud Masahi, the deputy principal at the school, said last week they witnessed “ugly running scenes” between the police and rioters and had “several teargas canisters accidents within the school premises”. 
“So, many of our learners are keeping home apart from those in the boarding section,” Mr Masahi said.