Parents of the Kenneth Marende Primary School pupils in Luanda Vihiga County are opposing a move by the Ministry of Education that is forcing the school to relocate.
Parents stormed the school's premises protesting the directive by the government directing the school to relocate following the discovery of gold in the area.
Reading malice to the plan, parents noted that a letter from the Ministry of Education was signed on January 3 asking them to relocate but it reached them on January 13, days shy of the deadline.
In the letter addressed to the Vihiga Director of Education, a gold mine company claimed that it had discovered gold deposits referred to us Ramul Amoibona in the area.
The angry parents stormed the school protesting the move and blaming the government for hiding the deal from them.
"We demand to be informed why (the company) came to this school. We demand answers, why were we not informed," one of the parents questioned.
"We have not even read the letter and given a response as a board yet (the company) has already come to the school to demand that we vacate," another parent decried.
The parents complained that there was no public participation before the directive was issued.
They are now left in dilemma wondering where the school will be relocated to and how accessible it will be to the residents. They also maintained that they would not be relocating from the land.
While the parents protested, the gold mine company was already in the process of acquiring a license to allow them to mine the gold. The company wants the board of directors of the school to give a permission slip showing it is not opposing their request for a license of operation.
The school heads revealed that there was no clear bid for the acquisition of the over one-acre land by the government.
Gold mining tops the economic activities in the area.