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 folks. 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.

In pursuance to achieving this goal, 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

Despite all these challenges, the community with the assistance of the CDF (Constituency Development Fund) managed to put up a dormitory for the Girls’. From 2018 the school grew in terms of enrolment starting; thus the demand for another dormitory, because of a double (2) Stream.

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, with the projected intake of 120 girls in the year 2020.

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 needsTotal cost: Kshs 3,000,000.00

2. CONSTRUCTION OF AN ADMINISTRATION BLOCK

The school has no administration block at present. The principal’s newly constructed house is where the administration block is housed to serve as administrative office. As time has moved on, the demand to utilize the house as an administration block has arisen, because the form 1 class of 2019 has been learning in the Laboratory; and the form 1 classroom which has been housing the administration block. The management has therefore, kindly request for financial support to construction an administration block at a cost of kshs 10,000,000/=

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

There is need to construct more classrooms, so as to admit more girls to school from within Kwale County and beyond. This will help to eradicate illiteracy among the people of Kwale County, especially the girl- child and young mothers, who will be able to secure employable positions in the county in future. There is also need for more classrooms to accommodate students during optional subjects.

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