Science Laboratory
In Kenya, the Government require a school to have a Science Laboratory in order to become officially accredited.
Accreditation means that the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations are recognized for University admissions and for training at other institutions of higher education in the technical and vocational stream.
Project Aims:
- To help the community realise their goal of constructing a Science Block for Secondary students
- To help provide materials and skilled labourers
- For the school to gain accreditation therefore providing greater opportunities for students
The Hummingbird Initiative has collaborated with the community, with other organisations and individuals to enable work on the Science block to begin. Members of the community are providing voluntary and unskilled labour as their contribution.
Once the building is finished, the government will provide resources and teachers. The school will then gain accreditation and will therefore be a more desirable schooling option for secondary students in the surrounding areas.
Please follow this link for more information on Education in Kenya: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Kenya
Desks and Text Books
Imagine sitting cramped and in close proximity to others, attempting to work with no space for your writing arms, trying to concentrate and learn whilst sharing desks.
Imagine having to take exams leaning on your knees or sitting on a dusty uneven floor trying to write whilst straining to see over another’s head. Imagine class sizes of 75-100 pupils with just one teacher.
All of these situations are real at Kanjoo Primary and Secondary school. The teaching and learning conditions are tough.
Project Aims:
- To improve learning conditions by providing children with space to think and learn
- To improve exam conditions by having surfaces on which to write
- To provide relevant text books in line with the curriculum to enhance and accelerate children’s learning
The school raises funds by selling crops farmed on the school grounds. This helps to provide paper, pencils, blackboards, chalks and other basic needs, but it is not enough. In a meeting with the teaching staff and respected members of the community, the school highlighted their various challenges.
Amongst these were larger issues such as water, sanitation and school government accreditation, all of which are presently being addressed by The Hummingbird Initiative in collaboration with the County Government and other organisations, but there is also a great need for more desks and text books.
The Hummingbird Initiative is in the process of providing 131 desks and 200 text books under the supervision of the Headmaster, Richard Kimathi, seen here standing on the left of the photo.