Every child has a right to education.
Education is life; it helps equip one with the necessary tools
to face life’s challenges. Education also opens doors to opportunities that
would have otherwise been impossible.
The children who attend the Informal schools in Mathare
North area, Ruaraka Constituency face a few challenges in trying to get an
education. These schools are severely under-resourced and under staffed. The
teacher student ratio is 1:40. These teachers are recent high school graduates
who are looking for something to do as they wait to join university. This ratio
shows that although the children have access to an education, it is
substandard. It’s not an odd thing to find 3-4 students sharing a desk. These
classes are very overcrowded. You will find that a room will be partitioned
into 4 classes whereby you have classes 1-4 all having a class at the same
time. You can only imagine the confusion that occurs when the classes are on. The
students also miss classes because the supervision at the schools is very
minimal. This is because the schools rarely cater for the upper primary classes
of classes 6, 7 and 8.The schools also lack basic facilities such as toilets
and water for washing hands. This makes personal hygiene a very big issue. Most
of the pupils see school as a chore and this brought about a high drop-out rate
especially at the beginning and at the end of the school term.
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| Eric from PV volunteer mentors students at Emaus Educational Centre in Luckysummer Area. |
The founders of Progressive volunteers saw the challenges
that these pupils faced and came in to try and remedy the situation. With help
from partners such as Global Giving Foundation, The Government of Kenya through
the local administration, parents, community leaders and other CBOs, we have come
up with a mentorship programme that uses volunteer mentors who act as “big
brothers and sisters” with the aim of guiding these students towards a
constructive life. The programme is structured in such a way whereby
volunteer mentors from PV goes to one of the informal schools once a week and
holds sessions on different topics every week. The topics will be on health
issues, self empowerment, drugs and alcohol abuse, academic issues, self-esteem
and awareness issues.
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| Jeremiah from PV gives a talk on Gender based Violence at Precious Star High School in Mathare North Area. |
With this structure in place we hope to give each child in
Ruaraka Constituency an opportunity to empower themselves. When the standard of
education goes up, the students start seeing things differently. They will in
turn become ambassadors who champion for the right of a child to go to school. This
will go a long way in empowering them and the community at large.
