Kenya’s vanishing rural schools – and why a new curriculum may be to blame

On what should be a busy morning at Kaliluni Primary School in southern Kenya, only cows are in attendance, grazing between broken classroom doors that hang open to reveal rows of empty chairs.

Three years ago, more than 200 children filled this rural school with noise and activity. Now there are only five pupils – and on the day we visit they, and the only remaining teacher, are absent.

As we leave the dilapidated compound, with books strewn across the floors of some classrooms, we spot a schoolgirl in uniform walking forlornly towards her home.

Maureen Mwisiwa, 12, says she has been turning up to school for the past week to find herself on her own.

“I feel bad missing lessons all those days while pupils in other schools are still in class,” she tells the BBC.

Her mother, Josephine Muasya – like the remaining parents with children there – is planning to transfer her daughter to another school where most of Maureen’s friends are now. It is quite a distance away – 8km (5 miles) on rough roads.

But as there is no public transport in this remote area of Kitui county, which is more than 200km east of the capital, Nairobi, the children opt for a short cut, trekking over fairly rugged terrain.

It will still take Maureen just over an hour to walk to the new school, instead of the 10 minutes to Kaliluni Primary.

“I was hoping the government would restore operations here – bring more teachers and facilities to accommodate the new curriculum – but there is no hope,” her mother says.

Muasya is referring to a major shake-up of Kenya’s education system that was introduced in 2017 – a less exam-orientated and more creative and practical approach to teaching, known as Competency-Based Education (CBE).

But it is having a devastating effect on rural junior schools – and Kaliluni Primary is one of more than 2,000 across the East African nation now facing possible closure as enrolment numbers plummet.