Taru Girls High School is a public girls boarding secondary school situated 4 Km North of Taru trading Centre, along the Mombasa – Nairobi Highway, in Kwale county Kenya.

The school was established in 2015 by the community, through the support from the Kinango constituency development fund which had built 4 classrooms and an 80 bed capacity hostel. Later the Kenya Ministry of Education built 2 classes through CDF and a Laboratory.

At the beginning, the school had an enrolment of 52 girls in Form 1 of 2015. They sat their K.C.S.E examination in 2018, as the pioneer class. Currently, it boasts of a student population of 340; that is (Form 4=37, Form 3=57, Form 2S=65, Form 2N 65, Form 2N=71, and Form 1S=67), due to the enrollment of a double stream, since the beginning of the year 2018.

The main objective of starting this ‘community school’ is to provide the ‘girl-child’ with an opportunity to acquire ‘a quality education for a quality life’. The parents in this region are very poor and would easily fail to take their girls’ to school and instead marry them off for dowry to educate the boy-child, or for those who wanted to, never saw a need to take them to long distance school, due to transport costs, which are beyond the means of most of them. So, they agreed to have a Girls’ Day school. However, when the school was set up, students came from all over the region and beyond. That called for more facilities, beyond the initial projection of just the 52 girls’ that initially enrolled, as the first batch of entrants.

Therefore, adequate facilities need to be in place that would ensure more motivation and encouragement and comfort to the learners.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

The school is situated in Taru desert, as the name suggests. This makes it very difficult or the lives of the residents in this region to move smoothly in life. Sometimes, many of them are very desperate when it comes to educating their children because they depend entirely on small farms and little frocks with so little output. Most of the seasons end up in crop failure due to short rains before the crops are ready for harvest. You can see how a parent really struggles and even begs to bring firewood for the child to stay in school. On the other end of the problem is the Human –wildlife conflict; since the area neighbours the Tsavo national park from where the wild animals roam freely day and night destroying the farms and crops in the process. The Girls’ were not spared the danger of wild animals; since elephants, snakes and a battery of other animals have been seen roaming through the school compound even at night, thus putting their lives in danger; but a well-wisher (Kenya-keys) assisted in putting up a fence, which has secured the girls, their properties and the entire school community from danger.

So, one would understand the kind of lifestyle the Taru community affords, especially that most of them are not in the formal employment sector, or no employment at all, which means most of them depend entirely on their shambas, livestock, small farms for up-keep.

STATEMENT OF NEED

A well-wisher (Kenya-Keys), donated 144 bed-capacities to lessen the congestion; but it can only accommodate 144 Girls, leaving the other 116 out, after the old dormitory has taken another 80. Thus, the urgent need to put a new dormitory; since the student numbers are increasing yearly, having started a double stream. Therefore, there is need for a 196 capacity dormitory.

So, with our parents being in the desperate state described above; we are requesting our friends and well-wishers to come and assist in cash and kind, to enable the school to accommodate the extra number of 116 students, who are making the current spaces to be jam-packed.

The school management board (B.O.M) has come up with the following action plan:

FACILITIES URGENTLY REQUIRED

1. STUDENT TOILETS

• –  12 modern toilets
• –  2 septic tanks

Priority: Urgent

Description:

• –  2 hand washing basins/sinks
• –  Tilled floor and walls
• –  2 toilets for persons with special needs

2. CONSTRUCTION OF AN ADMINISTRATION BLOCK

Time frame: 2019/2020 academic year
Priority: urgent
Description:
-Boardroom
-Staffrooms
-5 HODs office -Principal’s office
– Deputy Principal’s office -Account office

-3 toilets in the office

-1 toilet for the physically challenged persons with special needs

ESTIMATED COST: kshs 10,000,000

3. CONSTRUCTION OF 5 NEW CLASSROOMS

Time frame: April’, 2019 Priority: Urgent

Description:

-Not less than 5 classrooms
– Capacity: 50 students in each class
– Aluminum box profile roofing sheets for durability.
– An in-built wall unit for each class
-A teachers table for each class and its chairs
– 2 white boards. One at the front and another one at the back of each classroom – Cooling fans: sometimes it gets extremely hot
-Windows to open from outside, for the learners safety
@ Classroom costs 12,500,000/=

4. PURCHASE OF 100 DOUBLE DECKER BEDS

Time frame: April, 2019 Priority: Urgent Description

– 100 double-decker beds @ Total estimated cost kshs 1,400,778

5. A NEW GIRLS’ DORMITORY

Time frame: April, 2019 Priority: ‘Urgent’ Description:

• –  Estimated Cost: Kshs 10,000,000/=
• –  Capacity: 160 leaners

6. STAFF HOUSES.

The school has no staff houses; thus a risk to the girls staying alone without a teacher within the school compound; in case of critical issues like the fire incident which destroyed the only dormitory arise. i.e. cases of arson in schools have been witnessed in Kenya, since time immemorial. Currently the school matron is staying with the girls at night alone. The Board of Management and the school fraternity take this as priority.

Time frame: Dec 2019 Priority: Urgent Description:

• –  2 staff quarters
• –  2 bedrooms (self-contained)
• –  In-built wardrobes
• –  Kitchen cabinets and sinks
• –  Ceiling
• –  @ a cost of 2.5 million
• –  TOTAL COST KSHS 5,000,000

Currently the food is being cooked in a make shift kitchen, with inadequate space and, which is Environmentally hazardous due to the space it occupies. This will enable the cooks to work in a conducive environment for good hygiene; more so, students eat from outside, where there is a lot of dust.

Time frame: 2018/2019 academic year Priority: Urgent

Description

A. A MODERN KITCHEN

• –  A modern kitchen
• –  A tilled floor
• –  Installed energy-saving Jikos
• –  1 bakery
• –  A food store-house
• –  A ceiling with fumes-outlet
• –  A washing area with a slab and sinks for washing utensils
• –  Cateress office attached to the store
• –  A dining secretary’s office attached to the cateress office

B. DINING HALL

• –  2 main doors
• –  2 exiting doors at both entrance corners of the stage with a carrying capacity of 500 persons.
• –  Tables (Metallic)
• –  500 Chairs (metallic)
• –  Fans (15)

TOTAL ESTIMATED COST: KSHS 20,000,000.00

8. LIBRARY:

Priority: Urgent
Description

• –  A Library (3,000,000 million)
• –  A bookstore (1,000,000 Million)
• –  A computer-room (1,000,000 Million)
• –  Shelves: made of mahogany/mauve/Ebony
• –  Capacity: 300 learners
• –  Librarian’s office within the library
• –  A computer room attached to the library
• –  12 tables @ kshs 20,000 (hardwood)= kshs 250,000 (Consider portioned tables)
• –  300 chairs @ 2,000 (hardwood)= kshs 600, 000
• –  A raised platform within the reading area for the monitoring of the students’ utilizing the libraryresources at every given moment.
• –  Bookstore attached to the library
• –  3 computer desks @ 36,000.00= kshs108,000
• –  Photocopier printer @108,000TOTAL COST: KSHS 10 million

9. 100,000 LITRES UNDERGROUND WATER STORAGE TANK

DESCRIPTION

• –  An underground tank
• –  Cement and concrete

Estimated cost: Kshs 3,000,000.00

DONE PROJECTS

1. School fence, by Kenya keys organization; (Concrete poles, barbed wire with chain link),
2. 1 classroom under construction, by parents

GRATITUDES

1. Kinango CDF committee supported the construction of 4 classrooms, hostel, 40 lockers, 50 double decker beds and laboratory construction.
2. Kwale County Government – supported with the installation of the solar power lighting.
3. Kenya-Keys: donated a dormitory, with a bed-capacity of 144.: Fenced the school
4. Parents / Guardians contribution

• Payment to land (paid in full)
• Purchase 300 lockers and staff furniture
• Purchase 50 lockers for form 3

Teacher house- Converted to Administration.