King’ah said the school needs more classrooms to accommodate its growing enrolment while it assesses how to make better use of existing facilities. “In terms of facilities, in quite a number of areas we have underutilised facilities. We also have a shortage of classrooms for the school enrollment,” he said.
He also said some buildings had become old, limiting their use. “We also have a challenge of ageing buildings, which is quite true. And quite a number of them are underutilised as well,” King’ah said.
The school has about 2,800 students, supported by approximately 137 teaching staff and 79 non-teaching staff. The size of the student population has increased pressure on classrooms and other facilities needed to support learning and student life.
King’ah said the school was constructing new facilities to address some of the infrastructure gaps. But the challenge is not simply a question of available land: 209 acres does not automatically provide additional classrooms. New facilities require construction, funding and planning, while ageing buildings may require renovation before they can safely or effectively be used for learning.
The school therefore faces the dual task of expanding capacity and determining how existing facilities can be utilised more effectively. The principal did not specify how many buildings are underutilised, how much classroom capacity they contain or the precise reasons they cannot currently be used at full capacity. Those details are significant because they could help establish the extent of the infrastructure gap and whether some pressure can be addressed through rehabilitation or reorganisation of existing facilities.
The infrastructure concerns are compounded by wildlife around the school. King’ah said the institution has had to deal with hyenas and snakes within its surroundings, adding a safety and management challenge to the demands created by its large campus. However, his comments do not establish a direct connection between the presence of wildlife and the underutilisation of specific buildings or sections of the campus.
Despite the pressure on its facilities, Mang’u High School has maintained a strong academic record. King’ah said the school recorded a mean score of 9.8 in the 2025 KCSE examination, the same mean score it achieved in 2024. Maintaining that performance while accommodating about 2,800 students adds significance to the school’s infrastructure needs.
The challenge facing Mang’u is therefore not merely about acquiring more land. It is about ensuring that the space it already occupies, its existing buildings and new developments provide sufficient, safe and functional learning facilities for its growing student population. As construction continues, the key questions will be how quickly new classrooms can come online, what can be done with ageing buildings and how existing underutilised facilities can be brought into productive use. For a school with 209 acres and thousands of students, the infrastructure question is ultimately one of usable space: how much is available, how much is fit for learning and how efficiently it can serve the students enrolled at Mang’u.