When she visited her former school in 2014, she shed tears. Ms Bilquees Jennifer Ingrid completed her studies at the former prestigious Garbatula High School in 1990.
The institution is currently on its deathbed with just 250 students yet it can accommodate over 1,000, with the buildings in ruins.
“I could not believe what I saw. The library is what shocked me most because there are no books. I asked myself, is this school that I was overjoyed to attend and felt like I could live there forever? The situation broke my heart and I vowed to do my best to reclaim its glory,” Ms Ingrid said in an interview recently.
A visit to the school two weeks ago revealed that the former giant is now on its knees. Roofs are leaking, the ceilings have caved in and the sewerage system is dysfunctional.
In the computer room, more than 50 machines are spoilt after being rained on. During last year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams, students wrote their papers while standing, with rain water ankle deep, said the principal, Mr David Ruito.
In its heyday, the school boasted of having the best facilities in the country among them 25 classrooms, 16 dormitories, a photography darkroom, science laboratories, a dispensary, and open air basketball and gymnasium courts.
The school is struggling with poor performance and low enrolment. A mixed day and boarding facility at the time, the school was opened by then Minister of Finance and Planning Mwai Kibaki in July 1974. It rose to national fame for posing remarkable results for two decades.
It was started through partnership between the government, residents and then National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) and the Protestant Agency for Development Aid. Garbatulla was in the same league as Mang’u, Starehe and Alliance high schools.
The alumni has names of prominent individuals including former Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yattani, Isiolo Senator Fatuma Dullo and National Land Commission (NLC) commissioner Tiya Galgalo.
Others are former Isiolo Deputy Governor Mohammed Guleid and former Ethics and Anti-Corruption boss Halake Dida Waqo.
In the late 1990s, the school’s performance was affected by a spate of insecurity which saw the enrolment reduce drastically as parents withdrew their children fearing for their lives even as national students called to the school failed to report.
In 2000, it was shut down for nearly two years, stripping it of its national status. It was reopened in 2002 but as a district school and struggled for four years before registering candidates for KCSE examinations in 2005.
Over the past 20 years, the school has performed poorly, at one time posting a mean grade of 2.84 points. However, there are efforts to revive the institution with the government promising to launch an intervention.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua is among those who are currently calling for the school’s revival. During a fundraiser at Isiolo Girls High School two months ago, Mr Gachagua said the school would not be left to die and instructed Education CS Ezekiel Machogu to send a technical team to the institution and establish what is required.
Mr Ruito said the school needs at least Sh50 million to repair damaged classrooms and dormitories as well as equip the library.
“We’re doing as much as we can to ensure that the school does not slide back to the time it was shut down,” Mr Ruito said.
Isiolo South MP Mohamed Tubi said that, while the issue of insecurity is also no longer there, it is also expected that construction of the Sh86 billion 740 kilometre Isiolo-Mandera road will shorten the time taken to access the institution which is 130 kilometres from Isiolo town.
To encourage enrolment, he is also using the National Government Constituency Development Fund to pay fees for all the students.
“We’re paying fees for all of them regardless of where they come from and I intend to sustain this for the entire period of my term,” Mr Tubi said.
Alumni association chairman Adan Kabelo said they would not allow such a strategic school for the northern frontier counties to go to waste.
“While it used to take someone a week to travel there from Nairobi, today it’s a matter of hours because there is a tarmac road from Maua in Meru to the school. We’re hopeful that we will get our Garbatula high back on its feet,” he said.
To mark the school’s 50th anniversary, the alumni association is planning a get-together in July.
“We will spend time with students and the management and each of us will spend the night in their former dormitories. The message we want to send is that the school must get on its feet soonest possible,” said Mr Blaise Okinyi, a former student.
