Groundbreaking of Sh52m Nyaribo Primary School modernisation upgrade/HANDOUTEast African Community Principal Secretary Caroline Karugu has broken ground for a Sh52 million modernisation project at Nyaribo Primary School in Nyeri, paving the way for new classrooms, laboratories and other learning facilities.
The project is being implemented through a Sh50 million grant from Safaricom’s M-Pesa Foundation and Sh2 million from the Ministry of Education. It will replace the school’s old wooden structures with modern, fully equipped facilities.
Karugu, who hails from Nyaribo village, said the investment would transform learning at the school and give pupils access to facilities that have been unavailable to them for years.
Speaking during the groundbreaking ceremony, the Principal Secretary said the project would expose learners to experiential learning, science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), as well as skills needed in an increasingly digital world.
“These children have been learning imaginary science because they don't have a science laboratory. They have been imagining what computers are and what they look like. With these projects, they will now acquire experimental learning,” Karugu said.
The project will include four permanent classrooms, a science laboratory, a computer laboratory and an Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) centre.
The facilities will also be equipped to give pupils access to resources required for practical and digital learning.
Karugu said the school had for years faced inadequate infrastructure, limiting opportunities available to learners despite the institution serving the local community.
She attributed the intervention partly to her efforts to mobilise support from the national government and development partners to address the infrastructure challenges facing the school.
“We are here doing the groundbreaking for the upgrade of Nyaribo Primary School, an institution that has been marginalised for many years in terms of infrastructural development,” she said.
The modernisation will require the demolition of the school’s old classrooms to create space for the new structures. The project is designed to make better use of the institution’s five-acre compound.
Karugu said the upgraded facilities would restore dignity to the school while creating a more conducive environment for teaching and learning.
The Sh50 million M-Pesa Foundation grant is the main funding component of the project, while the Ministry of Education has committed an additional Sh2 million towards the construction of a Junior Secondary School science laboratory.
The investment comes amid efforts to strengthen STEM education and equip learners with practical skills as the country prepares young people for a technology-driven economy.
The groundbreaking ceremony brought together national and county leaders, education stakeholders and members of the local community, with thousands of residents attending the event.
Cooperatives Principal Secretary Patrick Kilemi and Public Works Principal Secretary Joel Arumonyang were among the government officials present.
Other national and county leaders also attended the ceremony alongside community members.
