ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA NURSERY AND PRIMARY SCHOOL, RUIRI, MERU

Currently, the school has got one Father from the congregation in charge of the administration of the school, 12 staff members and 7 support staff, that is; 2 cooks, 2 compound and classroom cleaners 1security guard for the night and 2 drivers.

We hope to raise St. Anthony of Padua Nursery and Primary school to a competitive as well as performing school in the country.

Currently, the school is run based on the little money realized from the school fees and donations. This is only enough and at times not enough for administrative purposes. Several children in the school are sponsored and do not pay school fees at all since the parents cannot afford and others have no parents at all, but the school supports them since they are bright and promising. In order to run the school smoothly, there is a great need for more funds.

CHALLENGES:

Most families where our pupils come from are financially unstable, therefore they offer nothing or minimal support to the school. Some families are not able to provide even basic needs to the children such as food and clothing, so even buying text books and uniforms is impossible and this becomes a great challenge especially to the teachers

Several children come from single families; hence they are brought up either by their grandparents or relatives, who do not pay much attention to them. These children lack motivation since no one is there to motivate them. So a lot of help has to be provided within the school.

Through the help of the Donors the schools have managed to buy two mini vans buses which do ferry pupils in and out of the school despite the fact that the no. of pupils are increase and there is need for a big bus in future. The presence of these buses has brought relief to some parents who were afraid and wanted to transfer their pupils due to security of their children. Despite all these the transportation has also attracted more parents to bring their children to our school. Gratitude’s goes to Fr. Simon Muriithi who by his sabbatical year in the united state the school managed to get the second van. We have a great hope that through the donors and charity organizations we shall get a bigger bus for easier transportation of the pupils in future.

Due to financial difficulties, the already existing structures in our school are insufficient, for example the Donors did a remarkable job for constructing classrooms, and a multi-purpose hall but the school still lacks the administration block that can cater for the staff offices, and various departments in operating the school. Currently the old building serves as the administration block.

However despite these challenges and difficulties, the school is moving on well and we are focused towards a better future, since where there is will there is way!!!