Until recently, Nyamadede Secondary School students in Gwassi North Ward in Suba Sub-county, Homa Bay County had low self-esteem which affected their studies.
The furniture they were using in class was borrowed from Nyamadede Primary School.
This made students from other neighbouring schools laugh at them and compare them to pupils in primary schools because of the type of desks they were using.
For the past two years, students at the school were a disadvantaged lot.
The school was started in 2019 by the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) in Suba South to help students from the immediate community reduce the distance they have to cover while acquiring education.
But it is yet to be registered with the Ministry of Education.
This makes the institution miss out on key development programs like the national furniture distribution exercise where government schools benefited from desks and lockers from the state.
At the school, their only hope has been neighbouring primary school which supplies them with most learning equipment.
According to the school acting Principal William Dwasi, students at the school had low self-esteem as other students compared them to primary school pupils.
“The students were not happy because their school is young and it is faced with a lot of challenges. This is likely to affect their performance,” he said.
However, their hope for a better education was rekindled after Hazina Sacco Society Limited donated 50 lockers worth Ksh 200,000 to encourage learning in a modern environment.
The national Sacco donated the furniture to the institution at a time when schools are grappling with challenges of keeping students safe from Covid-19 by maintaining social distance.
A delegation from the Sacco led by Vice Chairman McDonald Obudho officially handed over the furniture to Mr Dwasi as part of the firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) recently.
Mr Obudho said the Sacco board agreed to support the school based on a request that was sent to them by the learning institution.
Previously, the Hazina Sacco engaged in CSR within Nairobi until last year when the management decided to extend the gesture beyond the capital city.
“The Sacco has an education program that is meant to help disadvantaged schools. We have in the past done it in Nairobi until recently when we decided to help other schools as well,” he said.
Mr Obudho said the desks they donated to the school were recommended by the Ministry of Education.
Nyamadede secondary school has a population of 53 students (form one, two and three) with six teachers.
When the school started, the local community tried to raise funds to buy furniture for their children.
But the money needed to buy desks was too much for the parents who are mostly peasant farmers.
Other development initiatives by the community have flopped because of the high poverty level in the area.
It is these factors that the Sacco looked into when shortlisting the school as a beneficiary of the program.
“There were several applications that we received. But after sampling them, we concluded that Nyamadede was more deserving,” Mr Obudho said.
Mr Dwasi said the registration process is at an advanced stage and will enable the institution to get government funding.
“We have tried to raise funds to help the school but it has not been successful because of the low income level. The donation has bridged the gap that hampered our children’s studies,” Ms Peres Akinyi, a parent said.
