On what should be a busy morning at Kaliluni Primary School in southern Kenya, only cows attend, grazing between broken classroom doors that open to reveal rows of empty chairs.

Three years ago, more than 200 children filled this rural school with noise and activity. Now there are only five students and on the day of our visit, they and the only remaining teacher are absent.

As we leave the ruined complex, with books scattered on the floor of some classrooms, we see a uniformed schoolgirl walking sadly towards her house.

Maureen Mwisiwa, 12, says she has been going to school for the past week and is alone.

“I feel bad for missing school all those days while students from other schools are still in class,” he tells the BBC.

Her mother, Josephine Muasya, like the rest of the parents with children there, plans to transfer her daughter to another school where most of Maureen’s friends are now. It’s quite far: 8 km (5 miles) on bad roads.

But since there is no public transport in this remote area of ​​Kitui County, which is more than 200 kilometers east of the capital, Nairobi, the children opt for a shortcut and walk through quite rugged terrain.

It will still take Maureen just over an hour to walk to the new school, instead of 10 minutes to Kaliluni Primary.

“I was hoping that the government would restore operations here, bring in more teachers and facilities to adapt the new curriculum, but there is no hope,” says his mother.

Muasya is referring to a major restructuring of Kenya’s education system that was introduced in 2017: a less exam-oriented and more creative and practical approach to teaching, known as Competency-Based Education (CBE).

But it is having a devastating effect on rural primary schools, and Kaliluni Primary is one of more than 2,000 across the East African nation now facing possible closure as enrollment numbers plummet.