For the pupils at Voondeni Primary School, Machakos County, and Mwea Primary School, Embu, the 2019 academic year began on a high note as they settled into refurbished classrooms courtesy of the Schools’ Green Initiative Challenge, a school based environmental conservation project implemented by the KenGen Foundation in partnership with KenGen PLC, Better Globe Forestry Foundation, and Bamburi Cement Ltd.

The schools’ renovations are part of the KenGen’s continued efforts at improving the education standards of marginalized communities at its areas of operations. The project is a result of a partnership between the Foundation and Bamburi Cement under the GIC to rehabilitate the institutions.

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“In most of the schools under the GIC, classrooms are old and dilapidated. Through a special appeal from the institutions, the two schools were selected as part of the project’s objective in offering infrastructural support to deserving participating schools,” the Foundation’s Ag. Managing Trustee Anthony Igecha said, attributing poor school performances to deplorable learning environs.

Both schools featured in Phase I of the tree planting competition, recording healthy seedling survival rates and innovations to qualify for the renovations. The pilot project involved a total of 81 schools.

Construction work was done in phases, with the schools ready by the start of the new academic year. Class 4 and class 8 pupils at Voondeni Primary School now enjoy newly refurbished classrooms, while the class 4 – 7 block has new plaster and a fresh coat of paint. Apart from a new classroom, Mwea Primary Schools also boasts on four renovated classrooms including an upgraded verandah and new windows.

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Currently in Phase IV, the GIC has so far enrolled 419 schools at 7-Forks for the competition, with an additional 100 schools from the three counties slated to join the competition this year in Phase V.

Designed as a competition to participating schools, the GIC incorporates infrastructure support for schools in dire situations that meet the threshold for funding. Top performing schools stand a chance to win educational trips, scholarships, water tanks and rain harvesting gutters and pipes.

Through the Foundation, KenGen also refurbished Kiambaa Primary School, Murang’a County, in a unique partnership with the Environment & CDM Department funded through carbon credits.

The GIC project has also expanded to the Coast region by enlisting 30 schools in Mombasa, Kwale and Kilifi counties as part of a wider pilot that will also include West Pokot and Turkana counties.

The GIC incorporates three of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) namely Quality Education (SDG 4), Climate Change (SDG 13), Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6).