• On the morning of May 17, 2024, pupils were greeted with a waterlogged compound. Fearing for the safety of the children, the school’s management made the difficult decision to close. The aftermath of the deluge has been devastating, with the school now grappling with significant losses in infrastructure and damaged stationery.

Ainsworth Primary School in Eastleigh, Nairobi, has sent over 800 students back home following a soggy situation that soaked the whole institution. This comes barely a week in compliance with the President’s directive that it was safe to commence learning in the country.

On the morning of May 17, 2024, pupils were greeted with a waterlogged compound. Fearing for the safety of the children, the school’s management made the difficult decision to close. The aftermath of the deluge has been devastating, with the school now grappling with significant losses in infrastructure and damaged stationery.

The heavy downpour has been a wound in the country that has refused to heal. It has claimed more lives, and for this reason, the Interior CS, Prof. Kithure Kindiki, declared climate change a national security threat on May 10, 2024.

Nairobi has been one of the hardest-hit regions. And clearly, the county is not out of the woods yet, as it is among the areas anticipated to experience rainfall in the coming week according to the Kenya Meteorological Department.

The school’s board of management, through its Chairperson Alice Njuguna, pointed a blaming finger at the county government. This is in regard to the areas' poor drainage system and poor planning that has encouraged stagnation of the water. She also mentioned the county government has been unresponsive to their demands.

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Hathra Noor, a parent, expressed her distress, alluding that she fears the future of learning in school if the rain persists.

“As parents, we have a problem. If it has rained only once and it is like this, I don’t even know what to do. I am getting shocked at where we are heading to since other children in other schools are still learning,” she said.