Biting hunger keeps learners out of school in Isiolo

In the sun-scorched plains of 23 counties in the ASAL regions, the blackboard in classrooms is quickly becoming a relic. 

A merciless drought brought on by the failure of the 2025 short rains is slowly emptying students from the classrooms as their parents are forced to make the impossible decision between the survival of the family and the education of the child. 

The Kenya Red Cross has painted a grim picture of the intensity of the drought on schools, noting that in Counties like Garissa, more than 120 children at Hifow primary school have dropped out of class, leaving empty desks behind. 

This is attributed to the fact that schools were once a place where children could eat and drink but the biting drought continues to force families dependent on pastoralism to move with their livestock in search of water and grazing land, subsequently leaving their children without access to schooling. 

A focus on Isiolo County reveals that a school feeding program has become the lifeline of many children staying in school, but effects such as an acute water shortage and the irregular supply of food items under the program now put the food programme on edge, with experts warning it could suffer the same fate as Garissa if proper mitigation measures are not put in place. 

Badan Raro Primary School, located some four hours and thirty minutes from Isiolo town, has largely remained operational thanks to the government's school feeding programme.

Established as a feeder school in 2017, initially it had 32 students and only three teachers. Today boasts of a total 143 students and 9 teachers.

"The increase in the number of student's overtime can be attributed to the school feeding programme because whenever there's food, you notice an improved enrolment rate. We have students from grade one to eight," says Badan Raro Head teacher Abdulahi Hama.

But in the wake of the devastating climate change-induced drought, he is worried that there isn't enough food supply to sustain the program.

"The food we have for the feeding programme is over, but we are hopeful that another consignment will arrive at any time. Whenever we have a disruption in the school feeding program, the children, especially those in the early childhood and education centers, do not show up for school and only do so once normal supply resumes, "reiterates Hama.

Further, and without prompting, he tells us of the issue of water access by families and students.

"The issue of water is also a critical one, exacerbated by the ongoing drought. We get water from the county at least once a month, and it is supposed to serve both the families in the area and Badan Raro school. We have a tank that we fil and use to store the wate,r which serves us until the next supply," remarks the Head teacher.

Across the county, an acute water shortage and resulting insecurity have led to closure of Lakole primary school in the Merti area being permanently closed.

When The Standard arrived on a fact-checking mission, the school was a ghost land; it was empty, vacated and dotted with derelict structures once used as classrooms. Outside, shards of glass from broken windows lay strewn on the corridors, while an iron sheet structure used to formally house a water tank lay destroyed. The rainwater drainage troughs also hung from the roofs at an angle.

Missing doors also lead you into the empty classrooms where bead-like goat and bird fecal matter has taken the place of the once spotless floors, as damaged desks lay disorganized.

A few meters away, mud-walled houses with missing iron sheet roofs and compounds partially ring-fenced with sticks also lay deserted. They were stark evidence of hard decisions by families formerly living in the area to vacate following sustained attacks on their homes and schools by bandits from the neighboring Samburu county.

Abdulahi Koricha, an elder from the area, explains that the last time learning took place in the school was in June 2025.

"The main reason why the population migrated from here was the intensified water shortage and attacks by other pastoralists from Samburu county who wanted to take the little resources we had. As a community, we have now been displaced and education for our children destabilized despite our efforts to ensure that our children are educated," said Koricha.

"It hurts me that a school that was well performing is now closed. I'm appealing to our leaders to restore this school by providing ample security especially in border towns and digging boreholes as sources of water to the suffering families," he added.

Red Cross County Coordinator Gregory Macharia explained that the severe drought in ASAL regions is placing over 2 million people at risk of acute food insecurity, and approximately 784,000 children are acutely malnourished with an increased water scarcity that has seen 126 water systems in need of repair.

The organization, he said, has put in place relief efforts such as the support of over 100,000 families with nutrition aids and thousands with cash assistance.

Specifically, in the case of Isiolo, he noted that enrolment in pre-primary, primary, and junior school increased in 2026 compared to 2025; however, noting that a large number of children are still not enrolled.

A Short Rains Food and Nutrition Security Assessment 2025 report (SRA 2025)- jointly conducted by Red Cross and the County Government- also notes that the school meals programme has been impactful in Isiolo County but expressed fears that it would only last for the next three weeks.

To avert an increased rate of school dropouts in light of the drought, the report recommends interventions such as the timely supply and increase in quantity of school meals to primary and secondary schools, and the digging of boreholes in schools to get water for consumption and irrigation.

"Schools should be provided with water tanks for water harvesting, funding to enable schools produce their own food and training the Board of Management in schools to start and manage income-generating activities in schools," reads the report in part.