Quantity or Quality for Maasai and Samburu Education - can both be achieved?

I remember breathing a heavy sigh in our first year here when I realised the community wanted a new school... and I had thought we had our hands full supporting the existing government Primaries to improve their standards.  Did they  really NEED a new school? In the first year of opening 180 pupils had registered in the new Ngabolo Primary and 5 years on there are 400 pupils. Presumably Ngabolo has met a need for those 400 kids. Certainly some of these pupils have transferred from other schools, but the numbers in those schools have remained fairly constant with a slight growth.  Fair to say that the majority of pupils would not have been accessing education without Ngabolo Primary.  Last year we realised we had to begin again - by registering Nkiloriti Primary, for pupils unable to travel the distance to Ngabolo. Thankfully  (for our budget at least) this will be a less meteoric  rise in pupil numbers as the community there is smaller. At the same time we realised that we had now to build and finance the beginning of a cheap Day Secondary School...or else many of the Primary graduates would be left hanging: in the first year Kimanjo Secondary took in 29  of the poorest students... but this year it is prepared for 50...It is fair to say that NONE of these students would have gone on to secondary education without this new school.

2012 begins with our campaign to get more bottoms on seats; particularly in the samburu communities who currently do not access education as well as the Laikipiak Maasai. We have monitored the dropout in the Samburu nurseries, affecting the girls primarily, who do not proceed  to  Class One in equal numbers to boys. We are assisted in this campaign by the education department’s new and sensible 2012 campaign to stop children being held back  to repeat classes to raise their tests scores, as has traditionally been the case,  . That policy inevitably led to a high drop- out rate, especially for adolescent girls found to be in classes with much younger pupils. Crunch time: This focus on more kids starting school and on preventing drop-outs along the way will inevitably put more pressure on school quality.

What to do? Of necessity to continue to take a holistic approach to education. In order to get bottoms on seats the usual ‘incentives’ are offered.. uniforms is a major incentive here- as are footballs ! But the main way is (of course?!) education... educating families to see the value of education through the local Chiefs  and  Head-teachers, and through our Liaison Officers  and Health Workers (for education means better healthcare access) visiting each manyatta in turn.  And this intervention is virtually free (... can breathe a sigh of relief on that one then)... but how to keep up the quality of this education when government funds remain so small?  No magic solutions. Every community across the developing world is different, there is no one size fits all approach. Even here we have to monitor the differences carefully between the Maasai and  Samburu ranches and we must continue to rigorously collate data. The  solution paying the greatest dividends so far, is to identify our strongest and most dedicated Teaching Assistants to send for Teacher Training, is paying dividends. Whilst the training itself is affordable, we do, then have to pay larger salaries for them on their return, making a hefty increase to our ongoing teacher salary budget.  A constant classroom building programme is also essential, and very expensive.  Quality education needs classrooms of a reasonable standard. A water programme is also essential. School feeding is an important human right but our (admittedly very patchy) data does not show us that it adds significantly to attendance or test scores. Textbooks, electricity, computers,  desks, and resources are also important but  not as significant as other interventions.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the most significant factor for improving schools, after improving teacher numbers and teacher training is to have good Head teachers. The best of the Head teachers that we work with would compete very well with the best Head teachers anywhere in the Developed  world- and what Head teachers in the developed world  would work so enthusiastically for  a 14 week term, beginning at 7.30am, with no mid-term break living in remote and very basic conditions where you are lucky to get one bucket of water per day?  They have a huge management role, with no secretarial  or bursary assistance,  in addition to a heavy teaching commitment, and they work on a daily basis with illiterate parents to encourage, reassure, and assist them in getting their children to perform well.  Kenya, taking too much from its former Colonial Master , the UK, is assessment driven -still valuing test scores above all. But all the great Head teacher that we have the privilege to work with put as much focus on school ethos, pupils with Special Needs, individual student counselling, sport, school feeding, dance and drama and after school activities as they do on academic work. We are very privileged to work with them. It is these dedicated Head teachers who will have a bigger impact on raising quality in Kenyan education than any other single intervention we can make. 

Its never to young for a school uniform.. or a school book... the simpler                   interventions! Christmas Day Party for Nkiloriti Nursery children!