For years, the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) at Emanyata Secondary School (ESS) had struggled to fulfill the role it was created to play. Leadership had become stagnant, accountability was weak, and community participation was limited. As a result, important issues affecting the everyday lives of students were left unresolved. Critical student welfare needs went unmet, and vulnerable children, particularly girls, did not always have the support and protection they needed.
Things began to change when Nataana Kootu, a respected woman leader from the community, decided to step forward and contest for the position of PTA Chairperson. Her intentions were clear, and her passion was evident. She was appointed and immediately got to work.
For Nataana, becoming chairperson was about far more than holding a title. She wanted to bring the PTA back to life and restore it as an essential school body capable of responding to the needs of students, just as it was intended to do.
She began by bringing committee members and community representatives together, rebuilding relationships and encouraging people to take responsibility for the roles they had been entrusted with. She also worked to establish a stronger culture of transparency and accountability. Rather than waiting for the school to solve every challenge on its own, Nataana encouraged not only the PTA but the wider community to recognize that they, too, had a responsibility to invest in their children’s education and wellbeing.
One of the first challenges she confronted was the lack of basic necessities faced by some of the school’s most vulnerable students. For children already experiencing financial hardship, not having a uniform, school supplies, or other essential materials is another barrier to remaining in school. Nataana responded by mobilizing the community and organizing local fundraising efforts to provide support where it was needed most.
“Good leadership is about bringing people together for our children.
When the community sees transparency, they are willing to invest in our girls’ safety and future.”
But for Nataana, supporting students meant looking beyond their immediate needs. She understood that children cannot fully benefit from education if they do not feel safe while receiving it.
This is particularly important for girls, whose education can be disrupted when they experience harassment, insecurity, or feel unsafe in and around school. For Nataana, this concern quickly became part of a bigger vision: creating an environment where students, especially girls, can learn without fear and focus on building their futures.
Today, Nataana is turning that vision into action. She is mobilizing the wider community through a Harambee to raise funds for the construction of a secure fence around Emanyata Secondary School.
What was once a struggling PTA is becoming something very different: an active community structure capable of identifying challenges, mobilizing resources, and taking collective responsibility for children’s education.
Nataana’s leadership has shown the community that a PTA can be much more than a committee that meets at school.
It can be a community guardian for children’s education, safety, and future.
Nataana did not simply take over a PTA. She helped restore its purpose. And as she continues bringing parents, teachers, and community members together to make Emanyata safer and stronger, she is helping build something that extends far beyond: a culture of community responsibility where everyone understands that keeping children, especially girls, in school is not the responsibility of the school alone. It is something the whole community must stand behind.