Students at Mama Ngina Girls High School in Mombasa will finally relocate to their new school in Shanzu, Kisauni constituency next term.
Currently, the only girls’ boarding national school in Mombasa is squeezed within a less-than-an-acre piece of land in Kizingo, Mombasa island, Mvita constituency.
The new site is on a 30-acre piece of land, enough for amenities like sports grounds, laboratories, more classrooms and bigger hostels.
Speaking on Monday afternoon, Mombasa county director of education Peter Magiri said the tuition and administration blocks of the new Mama Ngina High School are complete.
They include 21 classrooms, 30 offices, washrooms and four labs.
The boarding facility, which will be able to comfortably host almost 2,000 girls, is 99 per cent complete, Magiri noted.
“It was supposed to be handed over this month but we pushed it because there was a place we found was not well done,” Magiri said.
Magiri spoke after a tour of Mbaraki girls primary and junior secondary schools.
The school also could not start operating because there is currently no perimeter wall, which is the main challenge.
The girls’ school will be neighbouring the Shimo la Tewa prison, Shimo la Tewa Boys Secondary School and the Shanzu Teachers Training College.
“So we can’t put them in an open place,” Magiri said.
However, the school management has made some inroads and Mombasa Cement has expressed interest in helping the school by putting up a perimeter wall, according to Magiri.
Speaking to the Star on phone, Mombasa Cement Company’s Imtiaz Sayani said they have no problem putting up a fence for the school.
“They can send a formal request and we will swoop in. Education is at the heart of our corporate social responsibility and we can also sponsor a few needy but bright students to the school,” Sayani said.
The cement company is responsible for the elevation of most of the public schools in Mombasa by building perimeter walls around them.
This has helped secure the schools, teachers and learners more, apart from giving them a facelift.
In fact, Mombasa Cement had intended to put up a perimeter wall around the new Mama Ngina High School among other public facilities but the previous county administration allegedly frustrated them.
On Monday, Magiri said, “the wish of the board is that next term the children should move to the new school.”
Works on the kitchen, sponsored by Kisauni MP Rashid Bedzimba, will start soon.
“Yesterday I was talking to the principal and he tells me the MP is honouring his pledge and may be starting the kitchen any time," Magiri said.
“So our hope is that we would be able to move the school next term because had we moved it this year, we would have added the capacity for form ones."
The school’s current capacity is limited because of the space. It has a population of slightly less than 900 students.
With the new site, intake will be more and would easily double the population, which will boost the Education ministry’s 100 per cent transition policy from primary school, especially for the girl child.
So far, the construction of the new school has cost close to Sh200 million.
For decades, the Mama Ngina Girls students had to grapple with sharing amenities, including sports facilities.
For instance, they had to hire the neighbouring Mbaraki Sports ground for their sporting activities, which was expensive and limited them to only Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The new facility, whose construction works started in 2019, was designed to have an ultra-modern sporting facility, including an Olympic-size swimming pool, standard soccer pitches, basketball, volleyball and netball courts and a running track.
At the current location in Kizingo, the school, established in 1988 has a public double-streamed boarding school and a small basketball court.
