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Public Education in Kenya – a Crisis of Quality

By Petra from Sparkley.eu   www.sparkley.eu

How has the quality of education in Kenya changed since 2003?  Why isn’t it working?

When free primary education became available in 2003, Kenyan schools were unprepared for the huge student influx.  Between 2003 and 2012, the number of students attending Kenyan primary schools increased by more than 3 million.  7,000 primary schools were added nationwide.  However, the facilities, staffing and supplies were far from sufficient to accommodate all interested students. 

Since 2012, the pupil-teacher ratio has steadily increased.  By 2015, World Bank data revealed a ratio of 31 students per teacher.  But according to a 2015 BBC report, classroom size was vastly underreported.  One Nairobi school, the Olympic Primary School admitted that some classes have as many as 120 pupils in one room, handled by one teacher. 

Moreover, it is reported that more than half of the teachers in public schools do not attend classes, with 15% of teachers not coming to school at all and 45% teachers being present at school, but in fact not teaching.  In 2021, the Kenyan Teachers Service Commission reported a teacher shortage of 104,000 instructors – over 46,000  at the primary school level and close to 58,000 in post-primary schools.  

This situation is tragic. Children hoping to overcome poverty through education find themselves in schools where the number of teachers is not sufficient.  Teachers are overloaded and report “burn out” within a few short years.  So, understaffed schools find themselves not only short-staffed but also with many absent teachers, forcing class sizes to balloon beyond management.  

Therefore, Kenyans with the financial means enroll their children in private schools where they are guaranteed a quality education.  Private school fees range from around $6,000 to $27,000 annually.  Two thirds of Kenya’s population live on less than $2 per day. Therefore, access to education by low-income families is an impossibility. As the world develops and becomes increasingly connected and computerized, low-income children, fall further and further behind. 

In Nyamboyo Village, a rural area of Kenya where most of our students live without basic modern necessities such as electricity and running water, the problem is more acute.  This is a community based vocational school, like NTS is so important.

NTS provides a 3-year professional education to youth aged 14-20 completely free of charge. There are NO hidden fees.  We also realize that student retention depends upon health and well-being.  If students are hungry, it is difficult to learn.  If students are not safe, it is hard to stay focused.  If young women fear an embarrassment during their period, they will not come to school.  We have taken it upon ourselves to eliminate stigmas, obstacles and barriers where ever possible.

NTS supports our students by providing:

  • 3 meals a day presenting a full 2,000 calorie diet;
  • High quality education provided by local experts with small classes of 20 students, usually being further divided into smaller groups;
  • A structured, daily curriculum and 6-hour school day
  • English-as-a-Second Language classes;
  • Computer literacy classes;
  • Classes on nutrition and health;
  • Individual and group counselling aimed at raising mentally resilient and positive youth;
  • Female empowerment programming to support the special needs of female students;
  • Sanitary products for our female students;
  • Uniforms, so students have professional clothing for school;
  • And a lot of friends and personal support to improve the quality of their lives.

NTS is focusing on providing not only high-quality education, but also raising strong and healthy young adults by improving their overall living conditions.

At the end of the 3-year studies, NTS students obtain a professional certification from the Kenyan National Industrial Training Authority (NITA) – the gold standard in Kenya! Once they graduate, they either get a job placement or decide to begin their professional journey as entrepreneurs. Careers in hairdressing, electrical, carpentry, or tailoring will secure a stable income not only for our graduates, but also for their families.

Families who experience the kind of transformation a free education from NTS can offer, are eager to enroll another child, improving their lives further. We are a model for Kenyan education, one student at a time.

NTS free education is helping pull an entire community out of poverty.

Would you like to support our cause? Contact us at info@nyamboyotechnical.org to discuss collaboration and volunteer opportunities.

References:

https://medium.com/edwell/how-kenya-became-the-strongest-education-system-in-africa-70cdc72024c4 

https://studyinkenya.co.ke/blog/the-kenyan-education-system

https://wenr.wes.org/2015/06/education-kenya

https://www.britannica.com/place/Kenya/Education 

https://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/774/Kenya-SECONDARY-EDUCATION.html 

https://knoema.com/atlas/Kenya/Pupil-teacher-ratio-in-primary-education 

Education in Kenya – Fixing a Broken System, One Student at a Time

By Petra from Sparkley.eu   www.sparkley.eu

How does the education system in Kenya work? 

In 2003, Kenya made public primary education free to all citizens.  This meant that every child, not just those who could afford tuition, would now receive a basic education through grade 8.  School became mandatory beginning at age 6.  And at the end of their 8 years, children would take a national exam.  If they passed the exam, they could enroll in a 4-year secondary education, followed by 4 years of higher education.

In 2008, the Kenyan government claimed to make secondary education free-of-charge.  However, most children who live in poverty have had their education cut short, due to poor primary education and the hidden costs imbedded in secondary education.  This leads us to ask the question:

Is public secondary education in Kenya really free of charge?

Unfortunately, it is only the classroom that is subsidized by the government.  Parents are obliged to pay fees for lunch, uniforms, and transportation, as well as grey areas such as school administration and management. In 2020, it was determined that the government’s subsidy per student amounts to $205 annually whereas parents must pay from $320 – $420 depending on the school type and location.

For families where the primary earners are peasant farmers and day laborers, this is a king’s ransom. These families often live at or below the poverty level of $1.90 a day. They do not earn enough to fully feed their families.  Paying for the secondary education of their children is impossible. 

Without proper education, children in poverty have little chance for advanced training and, as adults, lack the skills to earn a liveable and stable income for themselves and their families. Consequently, they perpetuate this cycle, living in the same poverty as their parents, and raising their children without access to secondary education. This is the vicious circle of poverty that NTS is combatting by offering not only free education, but also a completely free experience that includes clothing, food and home necessities to help families. 

NTS is a rarity in Kenya.  With opportunity for advancement for those born into poverty so limited, it raises the question: How has the quality of education in Kenya changed since 2003?

See our next post for answers…

Menstrual Health – A Human Right NOT a Luxury

by Megha Rana

Menstruation is a natural process that occurs monthly for all people with a uterus. Most will first get their period between the ages of 10 to 15, and will menstruate, on average, for 40 years. For some, menstruation is a celebration of a young woman in the making, but for others it is the beginning of a life-long struggle with  period poverty, or the inadequate access to menstrual hygiene tools and education 

At any one time, more than 800 million women across the globe are menstruating. Despite this, periods are often drowned in secrecy, shame, and silence. Not having the basics to make menstruation manageable, such as clean menstrual products, , people to talk to, or even the dignity of privacy,  has led to  global health issue. Many women, especially those across Africa and Asia, struggle with period poverty.

According to a 2017 Time Magazine article, “when a girl misses school because of her period, cumulatively, that puts her behind her male classmates by 145 days.”

The outcomes of period poverty in Africa include:

  • Girls missing one or more school days – 1 in 10 girls in Africa do not go to school during their menstruation period because of a lack of access to menstrual products and/or because there are no safe and private toilets to use at school. 
  • Lack of access to clean menstrual products – 50% of school-aged girls in Kenya do not have access to menstrual products nor can they afford them.  Transactional sex in in exchange for menstrual products is also widely reported.
  • A feeling of shame and fear towards one’s period – Sociocultural norms, and taboos often lead women and girls to fear others “discovering” their soiled period products. Girls may even burn evidence of their periods as a way to remove traces of their menstrual blood, for fear of shame, bullying, or even violence against them.

(Statistics according to Action Aid and Down to Earth.) 

Menstrual health hygiene remains an issue layered with negative perceptions and limited understanding due to the taboo and stigma behind it in communities across Africa. However, a concrete understanding of how to manage menstruation is vital. There are many efforts that can provide sustaining and successful solutions: a good education on menstruation, addressing stigma/shame, healthy menstrual health management, supply distribution, as well as eliminating tax on menstrual products. This spring, NTS will begin providing reusable pads to our female students.  We will also begin a reproductive health program.  Our goal: No NTS will ever again miss school again because of her period.

Together, we can overcome period poverty and create period equity for all.

 

 

107° in the Shade

So, now that we know how to replenish our electrolytes quickly, how do we keep a daily balance both during this heat wave and in general?  As Courtney Hamilton, NTS nutritionist tells us, the most important electrolytes are:

Sodium: We lose this in the highest concentration when we sweat.  Just adding more salt to our food during the heat will help replenish sodium.

Chloride:  This is also lost in high concentrations when we sweat but is harder to replenish.  The best food sources are tomatoes and lettuce.

Potassium:  This is lost very quickly in the heat and causes weakness, fatigue, and cramping.  The best local food sources are oranges, melons, potatoes, green leafy vegetables, avocado, and beans.  Fortunately, most are readily available at our markets.

Calcium: This seems to be a mineral everyone knows.  The best sources are milk and green leafy vegetables.  Many of us have cows at home so have ready access to milk.

Magnesium:  This helps with fatigue.  The best sources are green leafy vegetables, nuts, peanut butter, beans, and lentils.  Nuts and peanut butter are a favorite student food.

We’re not in citrus season so we’re relying on banana peels in our water.  However, oranges and lemons peels also release electrolytes in water so their peels so in a few months, we’ll welcome citrus water as a new taste treat.

Now you have an idea of what you’ll see on our plates as our brutal summer unfolds.  While we’ve never seen snow, it sounds awfully nice…


Feeling hot, hot, HOT…

It’s been over 40°C (that’s 107°F) every day this week. Climate change has hit Nyamboyo Village with a vengeance.

Everyone is soldiering through the school day but by the end, we’re exhausted and achy. So, we reached out to our beloved nutritionist, Courtney Hamilton, for advice on how to combat the side effects of heat.

Here are highlights of her response:

When we sweat, we lose more than fluids. We lose electrolytes which are the essential minerals that help our bodies function. Electrolytes include sodium, magnesium, potassium, chloride, and calcium. If we were in the US, we’d drink Gatorade. But what are the sources we can access easily in Nyamboyo Village?

The answer is surprisingly simple and sitting here on our plates!

Citrus and banana peels are full of electrolytes. We can easily serve bananas every day at NTS. All we need to do is add them to our water and let them sit for a bit. Presto – instant flavor and hydration innovation! (And as with any recipe, a pinch of salt can’t hurt and will add essential sodium.)


Next week, we’ll talk about the essential foods we eat that also help us keep our electrolytes in balance particularly through the heat.

Expanding horizons for students across the globe

Reposted with permission from NASSP’s School of Thought blog: https://www.nassp.org/2021/10/20/a-pen-pal-program-expands-students-horizons/.

 

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I was a junior at Valley View High School in Moreno Valley, CA when COVID-19 hit. After classes moved online, I missed talking to my friends in person, and I was really bored. I was also curious about what life during the pandemic was like in different parts of the world. As a member of the National Honor Society, I still needed to do volunteer work. So, I came up with a way to help young people like myself feel less isolated by starting a pen pal program with students at a rural school in Kenya.

The school is Nyamboyo Technical School, which enrolls about 60 students, ages 14-20, most of whom struggle with poverty, hunger, and access to clean water and health care. Students can choose from four professions for their studies: dressmaking and tailoring, electrical wiring, hairdressing, and masonry and carpentry. Purely by coincidence, another NHS student—Noah Jung at Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School in Richmond, VA—edited a professional-quality video on the school’s web page that gives a good introduction to its mission.

When I became NHS president my senior year, we expanded the program to reach more students at Nyamboyo. I thought a pen pal program would be a fun and engaging way for the students in Kenya to learn English instead of staring at a textbook. For American students, the program is an antidote to ignorance because we learn from our peers in Kenya about their country and how people live there.

I love learning about my pen pal, Edwin. He’s studying masonry and carpentry now, and it’s really interesting to hear about his life because it’s so different from mine. Even though I’m in my first year of college now, I still stay in touch with him. In fact, I just sent him a letter today.

Because of differences in technology, it’s not easy for us to send messages back and forth. The only decent technology students have is in their schools. On the American side, we send emails that get set up on Google Docs, which are then sent to the principal in Kenya to print out for the students. On the Kenyan side, students write letters, which get scanned and sent to us.

One thing this program has done is teach me a lot about global health, especially issues young women face. When girls there menstruate, they don’t have access to feminine hygiene products so they use dirty rags, and they’re unable to attend school. I thought, if menstruation is getting in the way of these girls receiving an education, maybe we can come up with an affordable sanitary pad that can make it easier for them to attend school.

I met a woman in California last year who takes extra fabrics from her clothing design studio and makes pants and sends them to Kenya. And I thought, why can’t we do that with pads for girls? We could raise money for the supplies, which would be proper fabric that would last a long time and could be washed properly. The pads would be made by volunteers here and then sent to the women in Kenya so when it’s that time of the month, there is no reason to miss school. I hope we can get this program started soon.

The pen pal program has made a huge impact on my life, and it has changed my career plans. Before, I had a narrow mindset about what a career in medicine could offer. My goal is still to attend medical school, but I don’t want to practice in an American hospital. I want to see and help people in other parts of the world.

A Tree Grows in Kenya

Life in rural Kenya has never been easy but Covid has magnified the difficulties. Like the rest of the world, businesses, schools and churches were closed or restricted for months.  Quarantine shuttered Nyamboyo Village’s vibrant social life in 2020.  Now as we near the end of 2021, medical resources are scarce but vaccines have finally arrived!  As of January 1, 2022, all NTS staff, students, and volunteers will be vaccinated.

For NTS, social distancing regulations require that we acquire multiples of many school items.  It means more desks, chairs, tools, handwashing stations, thousands of paper towels – and so much more.

But the crisis has also led to moments of extraordinary action, where the community has banded together to support NTS.

Most strikingly, it all began when a local farmer mentioned to his church that he had two gum trees (eucalyptus) he didn’t want. The wood from gum trees is a rough timber, not good for fine furniture but ideal for school desks and chairs.  The pastor of this church knew that NTS needed more furniture if it was going to open during Covid and meet the government regulations for social distancing.

So, the pastor told Jones Obiria, founder of NTS.  Jones negotiated a deal with the farmer.  If Jones could find a carpenter to cut and remove the two trees, he could have them for the school.

Jones quickly located a carpenter.  But he didn’t have funds to pay him so they struck a deal:   If the carpenter cut down the trees, he could keep the branches to sell as firewood. 

But the wood from the trunk needed to be split and removed.  So there was another deal:  To cover the carpenter’s work hours, equipment and travel, he could keep 25% of the trunk for his own use.  NTS would keep 75%.

So, the carpenter cut the wood, transported it all to his workshop and let it dry for two weeks.

But how do you turn split, dried wood into furniture?  Here’s the final deal:  Using the NTS wood, the carpenter made 7 tables and 14 chairs. He kept 2 chairs and 1 table to cover the cost of paint and nails.  His time was donated.

So thanks to a farmer, a church, and a carpenter, NTS now has 14 new handmade chairs and 6 tables.  With this furniture, our classrooms meet the national Covid regulations for social distancing.  Once Covid is over, we can increase our enrollment without needing new furniture.

Female Genital Cutting (FGC) is on the Rise Amidst Coronavirus Pandemic

By Wafa Khan

On January 28, 2021, Vice World published a detailed article on the rise of FGC in Kenya during the COVID pandemic. Below is a recap of key statistical points, followed by a link to the full article.  It features stories of young women who recount their experiences with FGC and older women who have built careers as circumcisers, often following their mothers and grandmothers into the profession. The article highlights the increased importance of NTS’ protection and empowerment of our female students during the pandemic.

Key statistics:

  • FGM was banned in Africa under the Children’s Act in 2001, which led the practice underground, making it harder for the government to halt the practice.
  • Since the first recorded cases of Coronavirus in March 2020, the Kenyan government has registered close to 100,000 FGC cases and more than 1,600 deaths.
  • According to UNICEF, there has been a 121% increase in FGC cases between January and November 2020 from the same period in 2019.
  • The number of girls rescued from FGC, dropped from 1,073 in 2019 to 994 in 2020.
  • The rising number of cases is attributed to girls and young women being home rather than in school.  Traditionally, schools have been the safe haven for girls and cutting happens on longer holidays such as over Christmas and New Years.  These holidays give girls time to heal without teacher scrutiny.
  • During COVID, because young women have been home with nowhere to go, parents have been opting for circumcision as preparation for marriage.
  • There has also been a significant increase in domestic violence, teen pregnancy rates and early child marriages.
  • Child protection programs, particularly those in regions with high FGC rates, have suffered due to pandemic-related restrictions.  Government resources have been redirected to COVID education and protection.
  • The total cost of treating all the medical needs of females undergoing FGC is estimated to be $1.4 billion globally annually.

To read the full article, go to https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgzm83/female-genital-cutting-is-on-the-rise-during-covid-in-kenya  

At NTS, we know from student reporting that our female students have experienced increased trauma during the extended school shutdown.  This trauma includes physical and sexual abuse as well as FGC.  We are committed to providing support to these students as well as moving our community toward a culture in which FGC becomes a relic of the past.

From Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) to Female Genital Cutting (FGC)

In an effort to reduce the stigma and judgment associated with female circumcision and mutilation, activists worldwide, including in Kenya, are now calling the practice Female Genital Cutting or FGC.  At Nyamboyo Technical School, we agree with this terminology change.  When women feel they have been cut rather than “mutilated” they are more likely to talk. 

Today, we are encouraging our female students to open up about their experiences. We want to understand the degree to which FGC affects them, helping those who have health issues as a result, and educating the general population.  All without judgment and with compassion.

Combatting Female Genital Mutilation

By Wafa Khan, NTS blogger 

The times are changing worldwide in ways we could never have predicted.  Today, at Nyamboyo Technical School, we are engaged in a major shift in our thinking and programming as it relates to the welfare and empowerment of girls and women.  In Kenya, this means shifting attitudes and beliefs around female sexual and reproductive health, sometimes in significant ways.

It has been brought to our attention that up to 65% of our female students may be survivors of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) an ancient practice thought to originate in Egypt in the fifth-century BCE.  Our ultimate dream is to see an end to FGM in Kenya.  We recognize this will take time – perhaps generations – but we must start today, crafting solutions in our own community.   However, to fully understand the how and why, we must first frame the problem. 

The practice known as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) involves the partial or complete removal of the external part of female genitalia.  FGM is prevalent in many parts of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.  In fact, the World Health Organization estimates that there are 200 million women and girls alive today who have undergone the procedure. In Kenya, it is viewed as a rite of passage into womanhood, directly tied to the concept of purity.  A woman must be “pure” to be fit for marriage.  Often, young women see marriage as the only option for survival.

FGM was outlawed in Kenya in 2011 but making it illegal drove the practice underground, with serious health consequences.  It is commonly done by elderly women who have no medical background.  These “practitioners” are paid per child and often use straight razor blades that aren’t properly sterilized.  Some report that they can cut up to 100 girls a day.  The result is both short and long-term health consequences such as severe pain, excessive bleeding, infection, urinary problems, pain during intercourse, psychological problems, and in extreme cases FGM can even lead to death.   There can be lifelong health problems such as permanent pain when urinating and menstruating, scarring, increased susceptibility to infections including HIV, and infertility.

FGM has commonly been performed around age 12 or older.  However, we know anecdotally that there’s been a shift since 2011.  Teens learned that the practice was illegal and many started to “exercise their rights” not to be cut.  To circumvent this, families started performing the practice on young girls; children too young to understand the concept of legal rights.  So today, it is not uncommon to see girls ages 5-9 recovering from FGM.

Also, FGM has been wrongly linked to religious practices, in particular Islam.  Nowhere in the Koran or other religious texts is FGM mentioned, and the majority of the Islamic world does not condone the practice.  Instead, it is a cultural practice linked to local, regional beliefs.  The African continent has the largest percentage of communities that practice FGM.

So, how can Nyamboyo Technical School combat this practice?  We propose to start with education and individual support programs. It may be too late to prevent this practice for many of our students who are all over the age of 14, but we know all of our students (male and female) are potential future parents to young girls; young girls they can protect from this future trauma.  

To educate, first we must open up discussion and remove any taboos and cultural norms around talking openly about FGM, both among our young women and young men.  We need a proper sex education program that openly discusses the health risks of FGM and gives accurate health information.  We need individual counseling and specific support for any of our female students who are victims of FGM.  Also, because this practice is linked to marriage, we want to connect the idea that a trained, economically independent woman does not need to see marriage as her only option.

Our goal at NTS is to train a new generation of youth who do not have to accept gender-based inequalities.  Our young women are economically independent and empowered.  Their male peers are learning to respect as well as expect gender equality in their families and in their workplaces.  Eradicating FGM is only the tip of the iceberg towards creating a generation of strong empowered women.  But it is a bold first step.