Schools Closing Is A Risk To Our Village’s Future

I run a private school called Tower of Light in a rural place commonly known as Yala Swamp 17km away from Siaya town in Kenya. It is a registered school with the Ministry of Education. On March 16th the President closed down all the learning institutions in the country because of the Coronavirus. My concern is that this might waste all the education efforts the children of this village have made. I worry it could send them back to their old life where girls get married and boys have to go back to the lake to fish.

I started this school because after my diploma in education in 2007 and completing my college education, I wanted to be a teacher, but the Kenyan government was not hiring at that time. I wanted to help the children of Yala Swamp to read and write, because most of them were not going to school. Many girls were getting married at just 12 years old……...………………