Thousands of children out of school in Kenya

Thousands of Kenyan students have still not started the new school year since the 27 December poll results plunged parts of the country into chaos, raising concerns about the effect massive displacement and continued instability could have on education. “Many of the teachers in the region are from ethnic communities that have left the Rift Valley in their thousands,” Bishop Jackson ole Sapit, who covers eight districts in Kenya’s western Rift Valley Province, told IRIN. “Many of those who left told us they would seek transfers to areas where they felt safer, which is likely to cause us great problems in the long term.”

Parents of children in camps in Narok North district said they were too scared to send their children to local schools in case they were attacked by rival communities or unruly youths. One camp, in the compound of the district commissioner, has more than 1,800 residents—who said none of the displaced children was in school. Read about the disruption in Kenya at IRIN News.