Due to the ongoing drought, over 3.5 million Kenyan children will be out of school when schools reopen for the first term in January 2023, according to Save the Children.
According to a 2021 study conducted by the Global Out of School Children Initiative, more than two million children aged four to seventeen have been absent from school since the third term of 2021. According to the National Disaster Management Authority’s Long Rains Assessment Report, an additional 1.6 million children are at high risk of dropping out of school when schools reopen for the first term next year as the hunger crisis worsens.
Mandera, Garissa, Wajir, Turkana, and Marsabit counties are among the worst affected, with Mandera having the highest number of school dropouts (295,470 children aged 4-17). Garissa has 289,410 dropouts, Wajir has 266,540, Turkana has 253,640, and Marsabit has 107,600. Other counties with a high number of school dropouts include Narok (83,020), West Pokot (80,070), and Samburu (64,818).
Based on the 2022 Long Rains Assessment, October to December projection period report for the Arid and Semi-Arid Land (ASAL) region, 4.35 million Kenyans are facing acute food insecurity.
According to a recent Save the Children survey conducted in June 2022 on the impact of the drought in 17 counties, there is a significant decrease in enrolment in all counties, with an average of 52% affected schools across all levels (Early Childhood Education, Primary and Secondary).
Among the primary reasons for high school dropout, inadequate or missing school meals, a poor learning environment, a lack of teachers, dilapidated infrastructure, resource-based conflicts, and climate-related emergencies were mentioned. A major factor is the lack of water in schools. According to an analysis of water in primary and secondary schools in the 17 counties targeted by the education sector, 460 schools have no water source and 1,896 schools rely solely on rainwater harvesting.
“Kenya is experiencing one of the worst droughts in 40 years. Children are the most vulnerable groups and are usually the most affected in such emergencies. Parents have to migrate with their children in search of food, pasture, and water for their livestock. This compromises their access to basic facilities such as food, clean water, healthcare, and education,” said Yvonne Arunga, Country Director for Save the Children Kenya and Madagascar.
Northern Kenya is majorly a pastoralist community and right now, parents are unable to pay school fees because they have lost their sources of livelihood. Communities are majorly focused on basic survival skills and school-going children have to help their parents take care of livestock and carry out domestic chores.
“Every minute that goes by means more children’s lives are increasingly at risk. Time is quickly running out for children. They’re missing out on education, making them more disadvantaged. We are calling on the government to make every effort to ensure maximized and efficient running of school feeding programs during drought situations, especially in the areas worst affected by drought. Most of these children depend on these meals,” said Yvonne.
Save the Children is also calling on the government to ensure there is an adequate supply of safe water to schools during the drought for purposes of drinking, sanitation, and personal hygiene in order to enhance a conducive school environment that will encourage children to stay in school. The government should also put in place real-time monitoring systems to assess situations in schools at the onset of drought to enable early responses before the impact of school closures is experienced.
To address these gaps in education, Save the Children is implementing the Operation Come to School Project dubbed ‘Watoto rudi Shule’ to increase enrolment and retention of children who are out of school in Wajir Turkana, Baringo, and Bungoma Counties. The organization will work in partnership with the various departments – Ministry of Education, Teachers Service Commission, Youth, Gender and Social Service Department, County Directorate of Education Office, and Public Health as well as other education stakeholders in the targeted Counties. This will ensure complementarity with county-level priorities and project education priorities in the proposed project.
Save the Children is providing lifesaving assistance to children and their families affected by the drought in Turkana, Mandera, Wajir, and Garissa Counties through integrated health, nutrition, food security, child protection, water hygiene, sanitation, and education interventions. We have reached 737,931 people including 405,511 children this year.
