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Kenyan public schools renovated in ‘spread the love’ campaign
Thirty public schools are getting a facelift of their facilities as Spread the Love Campaign improves the infrastructure in Kenya’s public primary schools during the August school holiday break.
Spread the Love Campaign; a community outreach co-ordinated by Mavuno Church seeks to harness people and resources to restore dignity and hope to children in public primary schools through infrastructure development and social support and targets to raise 1 million hours annually of community service through volunteers.
The 2025 Spread the Love campaign activation took place on 9th and 10th August 2025 and targeted 30 schools with renovations amounting to about Kshs. 9.2 million donated by congregants and communities surrounding the public schools. Donations also included paints, brushes and construction materials.
Pastor Milton Jumba, Executive Pastor- Operations, Mavuno Church: Maintenance of public schools is everyone’s responsibility and not just the government and as our National Anthem. Let’s build our land and nation. We are targeting to renovate 30 schools in 2025 and are looking at partnering with other well-wishers and other corporations to make this dream a reality. The 2025 beneficiary public schools include Mlolongo Primary School, Thindigua Primary School, Kahawa Primary School, Kabete Vetlab, Serita Safe House, Gacharage High School, Lavington Primary School, Moi Avenue, Martin Luther Primary, Donholm Primary, Rongai Nakeel Primary School and Katani Primary School amongst others. When the schools are opened in September, the children will be so excited to find their school environment renewed” says Jumba.
Public schools in Kenya experienced increase in enrolment following the 2003 re-introduction of free primary education which was aimed at providing more opportunities for out of school children. Within one year of implementation UNESCO, 2005 reported an increase in gross enrolment rate (GER) which resulted in more than 1.5 million out of school children joining primary schools. However, school facilities and infrastructure proved to be a challenge as classes became congested with limited physical facilities, sanitary and hygiene toilet facilities.
Ms Selina Keya, Head teacher, Moi Avenue Primary School: “The school was established in 1938 by the British Government and was called Government Road Primary School and in 1978 it adopted the name Moi Avenue Primary School. The monumental historical buildings need renovation. We get funds from the government but due to our low student population the funding is not enough so we cannot effectively upgrade the facilities. Our pupils lack desks and we do not have an effective library, we have old books that are not CBC oriented.” Thanking the Spread the Love campaign for the renovations, Head teacher, Ms Keya said the renovations of the schools would increase morale of teachers and students which influences improved academic performance.
Spread the Love campaign has over the last eight years renovated Lavington Primary and has repainted classrooms, landscaped the grounds, renovated and installed water tanks for the ablution block and are looking for more resources to upgrade the kitchen and unclog the drainage system.
Pastor Milton Jumba: “Some of the major needs of some of the public schools include classrooms with potholed floors, damaged notice boards and missing doors and windows. Inadequate furniture has seen some students stand or sit on the classroom floors and use stones and planks as desks during lessons."
Kenyan public schools are currently facing funding gaps that have disrupted daily operations and are impacting the quality of education. As a result, maintaining the infrastructure may not be the immediate priority for public schools.
For sustainability, we consider Spread the Love to be like a public private partnership. We invite partnerships to come alongside the public schools and partner to alleviate the financial burden in schools, says Executive Pastor David Kuria of Mavuno Church.
Kuria: “It is our children, the next generation of leaders, who are attending these schools and so we are always looking for opportunities to engage with public institutions such as the Ministry of Education and the county education commissioner’s officers. Through the years we have relied on the generosity of congregants, communities, individuals and organisations; to partner with the public institutions to make our society a better place."
Pastor Muriithi Wanjau, Senior Pastor Mavuno Church: “We do our Spread the Love Community activities, because we want to celebrate life change and celebrate societal transformation. We want to be useful and to add value to our communities, so that when people think of the church, they think good."
