- Astiba Kebongo argues that reliable water should be treated as essential school infrastructure nationwide.
- He says shortages disrupt learning, sanitation, examination preparation and implementation of the competency-based curriculum.
- He calls for coordinated national and county action to build water-resilient schools across Kenya.
There is a crisis unfolding quietly in some Kenyan schools, and it is not found in a textbook, examination paper or classroom. It is found in the empty water tank.
For some learners, the school day is no longer beginning with a morning assembly, a lesson or revision. It begins with the search for water. Instead of waking up early to prepare for class, some learners are compelled to wake up early to look for a commodity that should already be guaranteed within their learning environment.
That is a disaster.
The current dry spell has exposed how vulnerable some schools become when reliable water systems fail. In some areas, schools are depending on water tankers, yet poor roads can make it impossible for those tankers to reach their destinations. A tanker may be available, but if the road is impassable, the water might as well be a hundred kilometres away.
This should not be dismissed as an isolated inconvenience.
It is a wake-up call to the national government, county governments, the Ministry of Water, the Ministry of Education, Boards of Management, communities and other education stakeholders.
Water is not a luxury in a school. It is part of the infrastructure of learning.
Kenya has demonstrated that when government identifies an infrastructure need as a national priority, it can mobilise resources and coordinate different institutions to expand access.
School electrification offers an important lesson.
Electricity was once unavailable in many schools, particularly in remote areas. Yet the country progressively invested in connecting schools to electricity because it was recognised as essential to modern education. Today, electricity is no longer viewed merely as a convenience. It powers laboratories, lighting, digital learning, ICT equipment, security systems and other educational services.
The same sense of urgency should now be applied to water.
The comparison does not mean electricity and water perform identical functions. They do not. Rather, both are foundational utilities that enable schools to function effectively.
A school cannot be considered adequately equipped simply because it has electricity, classrooms and laboratories while learners struggle to obtain drinking water.
Indeed, water has a particularly strong constitutional foundation. Article 43(1)(d) of the Constitution guarantees every person the right to clean and safe water in adequate quantities, while Article 43(1)(f) guarantees the right to education.
The Basic Education Regulations are equally clear. Regulation 50 requires those responsible for managing pre-primary, primary and secondary schools to provide, among other things, adequate safe and clean water and appropriate sanitation facilities.
So the question is not whether learners deserve water.
They do. It is a constitutional and educational imperative.
The real question is why a school should still be forced to operate without a reliable water source.
The numbers should concern us.
According to the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme, 77 per cent of schools globally had a basic drinking-water service in 2023, while eight per cent had a limited service and 15 per cent had no service at all.
That translated into approximately 447 million children lacking a basic drinking-water service at school. Sub-Saharan Africa was the only SDG region where fewer than half of schools had a basic drinking-water service, at 45 per cent.
The definition of a basic service is important: a school must have an improved water source with water actually available when needed. A borehole that has dried up, a piped connection that is constantly interrupted or a tank that remains empty cannot meaningfully be described as reliable water security.
The wider global picture is equally sobering. In 2024, an estimated 2.1 billion people worldwide still lacked safely managed drinking water.
These figures remind us that water insecurity is not simply a household problem. It follows children into the classroom.
There is also an uncomfortable irony.
The world has just reflected on water security through World Water Week 2026, held in Stockholm from August 23 to 27 under the theme Water for People and Progress. The discussions centred on water security, climate resilience, inequality and sustainable development.
But global water conversations must eventually arrive at the school gate.
What does water security mean to a learner who wakes up before dawn to search for water?
What does climate resilience mean to a boarding school whose tanks are empty?
What does sustainable development mean when a candidate loses valuable revision time because the school is struggling to secure water?
Water for people must include water for learners. Water for progress must include water for education.
The irony is that World Water Week has barely ended, yet the water crisis facing some schools has become even more visible.
That should not make the summit irrelevant.
It should make its message more urgent.
Water shortages undermine curriculum implementation
Kenya’s Competency-Based Curriculum is built around the holistic development of the learner. It emphasises competencies, values, practical skills, creativity, critical thinking and learner wellbeing.
But curriculum implementation does not take place in a vacuum.
It takes place in real classrooms occupied by real children whose basic needs must first be met.
A thirsty learner is not operating at full capacity. A school struggling with water cannot easily maintain hygiene and sanitation. A boarding institution without adequate water faces even greater pressure because learners live on the compound around the clock.
Water is required for drinking, cooking, cleaning, handwashing, sanitation and menstrual hygiene.
Therefore, water provision should be understood as an education intervention, not merely a public-health intervention.
Kenya should consider a deliberate National School Water Security Programme to guarantee reliable water in schools, particularly in water-stressed and drought-prone areas.
Every school should undergo a water-security audit.
The audit should establish the school’s main water source, daily water requirements, storage capacity, reliability of the source, availability of a backup source, drought vulnerability, accessibility by water tankers, rainwater-harvesting capacity, water-quality status and emergency supply arrangements.
Schools without dependable water sources should be prioritised for intervention.
Depending on geographical and geological circumstances, solutions could include piped water connections, properly assessed boreholes, rainwater-harvesting systems, larger storage tanks, protected springs, solar-powered pumping systems and emergency water supply.
But the objective should not simply be access to a water source.
The objective should be reliable water availability.
The Ministry of Water and Ministry of Education must work together.
The Ministry of Education knows where schools are and understands their enrolment, infrastructure and learner needs.
The Ministry of Water possesses the technical expertise necessary for water-resource assessment, infrastructure development and water-service planning.
Their combined knowledge could produce a national map showing schools that are adequately served, vulnerable to seasonal shortages and completely dependent on emergency supplies.
The Water Act, 2016 provides a strong foundation. Section 63 recognises the right to clean and safe water in adequate quantities, while Section 64 provides for a national Water Services Strategy aimed at progressively realising that right and requires identification of people without basic water supply.
The logical next step is to make schools a clearly identifiable priority within water-service planning.
County governments cannot be spectators either.
Where a school lies close to an existing county water network, why should it remain disconnected?
Where a water-service provider is operating in an area, can schools be prioritised as strategic public institutions?
Where a county has not exhausted its potential for expanding water supply, can schools become part of the next phase?
These questions deserve serious attention.
County governments and licensed water-service providers can work with schools to extend piped systems, establish community water points where appropriate and develop sustainable solutions for water-stressed institutions.
Boards of Management also have an important responsibility.
Emergency tankers are useful, but they should not become the permanent solution.
Every Board should be asking: How much water does this school consume every day? How many days can our storage sustain the institution? What happens when the main source dries up? Can we harvest enough rainwater to supplement our supply? Do we have a functioning backup source? Can a tanker reach us during bad weather?
These questions should be part of school infrastructure planning.
A school that has invested millions in classrooms, laboratories, dormitories, dining halls and sporting facilities but has inadequate water infrastructure still has a serious infrastructure deficit.
Communities surrounding schools should not be excluded from the solution.
They can participate in protecting springs and water catchment areas, maintaining community water projects, supporting tree planting and safeguarding water infrastructure.
Some Kenyan schools have drilled boreholes and gone beyond meeting their own needs by supplying water to surrounding communities.
Where technically and financially feasible, such models can be replicated.
A school can become not only a place where children learn about sustainable development but also a practical demonstration of it.
Let us build water-resilient schools
The present dry spell should not be allowed to disappear from public attention once the rains return.
That would be a mistake.
The challenge should push Kenya towards water-resilient schools.
Short-term measures are necessary. Schools facing acute shortages need emergency water deliveries, functioning storage and water-treatment support.
But long-term solutions are more important.
We need rainwater harvesting.
We need adequate storage.
We need properly assessed boreholes where viable.
We need solar-powered pumping where appropriate.
We need protection of water catchment areas.
We need reliable piped connections.
We need functional maintenance systems.
We need roads that allow emergency water deliveries to reach schools.
Above all, we need a shift in mindset.
Water security must become part of school infrastructure planning in the same way electricity, classrooms and sanitation are considered.
Education debates often focus on teachers, textbooks, technology, examination preparation and curriculum reforms.
All these matter.
But the basic welfare of the learner cannot be placed at the bottom of the priority list.
A well-fed, hydrated, safe and cared-for learner is better placed to listen, participate, think critically and concentrate in class.
This is particularly important for candidates preparing for national examinations.
The country cannot tell learners to work harder while allowing circumstances around them to consume the very time and energy they need for preparation.
A candidate preparing for an examination should be revising — not looking for water.
A learner preparing for a practical lesson should be in class — not walking kilometres in search of a jerrican.
A school administrator should be planning instruction — not spending every morning making emergency calls for a water tanker.
Kenya has already demonstrated the power of treating infrastructure as a national priority.
The lesson from school electrification is simple: when government decides that something is essential, it can organise, invest, coordinate and progressively expand access.
Let that determination now be applied to school water.
We should not have a situation where a school is proudly described as electrified while its learners queue for water.
We should not celebrate modern classrooms while ignoring the empty tank behind them.
We should not speak passionately about learner-centred education while overlooking one of the learner’s most basic needs.
Electricity powers the classroom. Water sustains the learner. Both deserve serious national investment.
The present water crisis should not merely be remembered as another difficult dry season.
It should become the moment Kenya decided that every school deserves reliable, clean and safe water.
The national government must provide policy direction and financing.
The Ministry of Water must provide technical leadership.
The Ministry of Education must identify vulnerable institutions and integrate water security into education planning.
County governments and water-service providers must expand supply.
Boards of Management must strengthen school-level infrastructure and maintenance.
Communities must protect local water resources.
Parents, development partners and other stakeholders can support sustainable projects.
And schools that have successfully solved their water challenges should share their models with others.
The Constitution has already given us the principle. The Water Act has provided the framework. Education regulations have established the obligation.
What is needed now is action.
Kenya electrified schools because it understood that education could not afford to remain in darkness.
Today, the same country must confront another question:
Can education flourish where learners are thirsty?
The answer is obvious.
Let us therefore give school water the same national urgency we gave school electrification.
Let us invest before the tanks run dry.
Let us act before another learner loses another hour of learning.\
READ ALSO: Family announces burial arrangements for slain teacher Martina Chepkemoi Rutto
Because water for learners is water for learning. Water for schools is an investment in human capital. And water for education is water for Kenya’s future.
By Astiba Kebongo
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