New high school opens in Pangia

THE start of a school year always brings mixed emotions to families throughout the country.

For new students, especially those who are setting foot in a classroom for the first time, it is both and exciting and anxious during the first days.

For continuing students, it is a time to look forward to as they will be learning new things, making new friends and sitting under the guidance of new teachers.

For parents and guardians, it is both and anxious moment as they worry about paying school fees and ensuring that the children are settled in well in their classrooms or dormitories for boarding students.

The new Apenda High School in East Pangia, Southern Highlands is an exciting new venture for the local communities.Headmaster Gipsy Weru, his eight teachers and 62 grade nine students are starting something that will only develop into a viable educational institution a few years down the line.

The school has been allocated K1.1 million by the Southern Highlands

Provincial Government to start operating this year. With this funding assistance, the school was able to purchase vital equipment including 20 desk top computers, to lap top computers, four printers and a generator.

Apenda High School’s feeder schools are Apenda, Aria and Lendem primary schools.

The school was originally registered as a day high schools but the principal and his staff decided to make it a boarding institution given that many of the students would be walking long distances daily for classes.

The school was able to erect two boys’ dormitories, one girls’ dormitory, a dining area and kitchen and toilets for resident students. There is solar lighting throughout the school. Students and staff have access to a fresh water from the nearby Tole creek which flows well throughout the year.