In the arid expanses of northern Kenya, prolonged drought has emptied schoolyards, forcing dozens of children to abandon education as families migrate in search of water and pasture.
At Hifow Primary School in Garissa County, classrooms that should be filled with pupils remain silent, even as schools reopened nationwide after the holiday break. The Kenya Red Cross highlighted the crisis in a post on X on Saturday, 10 January 2026, noting that dry water tanks and widespread family displacement have left the school deserted.
Over 120 children who depended on the school for daily meals and safety are now out of class, the organisation said, with its teams responding on the ground.
Empty classrooms highlight wider crisis
Hifow village mirrors a deepening emergency across Kenya’s arid and semi-arid lands, where failed rains have shattered pastoral livelihoods. Families reliant on livestock herding have moved repeatedly, uprooting children from stable schooling and exposing them to greater risks of hunger, malnutrition and exploitation.
The situation has prompted urgent calls for national intervention. On Friday, 9 January, Mandera Deputy Governor Ali Maalim, after meeting Kenya Red Cross Society Secretary General Ahmed Idris, urged the national government to declare an emergency in Mandera, Turkana, Marsabit and Samburu counties. This year’s drought is far worse than 2023, Maalim warned, pointing to the near-total failure of the October–November–December short rains and the prospect of continued poor rainfall.
While county governments have increased water provision, food relief and health and nutrition programmes, these efforts fall short of the crisis scale.
MPs warn of hunger
Similar concerns have been raised by Members of Parliament from the North Eastern region. In December 2025, Eldas MP Adan Keynan stated that more than 2.1 million people in arid and semi-arid lands face crisis-level hunger between October 2025 and January 2026.
Keynan attributed the shortfall to La Niña conditions and a negative Indian Ocean Dipole, which have brought high temperatures and very low rainfall. Households have exhausted food reserves and now rely on markets with sharply risen prices.
Water shortages and depleted pasture have reduced livestock productivity, with diseases spreading among weakened animals. Competition for scarce resources is heightening tensions in pastoral communities, while women and children face elevated risks of malnutrition and displacement.
Regional MPs have called on the government to declare the drought a national disaster, expand emergency food aid, cash transfers and livestock support, and invest urgently in borehole drilling, water trucking and repairs to community water points.
As climate variability intensifies, northern Kenya’s children bear the heaviest burden, with their education interrupted amid the daily struggle for survival. Swift, large-scale action is essential to avert lasting damage to child welfare and learning in the region.
