Kenya: Lamu Girls Secondary School

School Name: Lamu Girls Secondary School

School Location: Lamu Island, Kenya

Principal: Jamillah Mohammed

Enrollment: 450 students (all female)

After meeting with the Princpal of the school, Mrs. Mohammed, I had the pleasure of talking to, and taking a tour with Mr. Joham Wangila, the head teacher of the school.

Goal of the School: For the students to continue their education in college and further educational courses. In the current year, 40 students out of 110 qualified for higher education courses.

Chief Issues at the School: There is an alarming deficit of teachers. They currently need four more teachers to meet the requirements of the students. Only three of the currrent teachers are paid by the government, and the remaining are paid by the local board of education. The biggest area of deficit is in language arts. This is the key challenge faced by the school at this point.

Funding Sources: Most of the school funding comes directly from the parents of the students. However, many of the girls are orphans, so raising these fees is often a problem. There are community groups that will help to cover some of these costs, but not all. In the past, the school recieved funding from the U.S. Government for a computer project which is still in use.

Resources Needed: The most critical need, according to the administration, is housing for teachers. Most of the teachers come from outside the community and are forced to rent their housing, which creates financial hardship for the teachers, whose salaries can barely cover the essentials.

Sources of Pride: The students are the greatest source of pride. According to Mr. Wangila, "They are eager to learn and want to learn technology and medicine. However, it is hard to support these dreams with the current level of resources."

Inspirations: Mr. Wangila's inspiration to become an educator was his Physics Teacher in high school, Mr. Rafael Khaemba, who inspired through his hard work and guidance. Khaemba currently heads an international school in South Africa.

Successes: The school is very proud of the fact that they placed #2 for the Kenyan National Exams for the Lamu District, which shows that the students in the school are performing very well compared with the rest of the nation. They are also very proud of their volleyball program. I was able to note a strong vocational presence on my tour of the school, as there were girls being trained on such things sewing and fish farming. I noted a strong sense of presence in the school, and it seemed to be extremely orderly and well-managed.

Kenya: Lamu Boys Secondary School

School Name: Lamu Boys Secondary School

School Location: Lamu Island, Kenya

Principal: Khamis Kaviha

School Motto: Education Empowers

Enrollment: 549 Students (all boys)

I had the pleasure of sitting and talking with the Principal of the school, Mr. Kaviha, who helped to shed some light on the current situation faced for the administration and students.

Goal of the School: "To produce well-rounded students who will participate in nation building, through hard work and discipline." The Principal continued that his goals also included sending at least 50% of the students to tertiary college every year.

School Funding: The school is subsidized by the government, and the rest of the money comes from the parents of the students. The government pays the basic tuition fees for all of the students. For the boarding students, the parents must contribute over half of the total school expenses.

Resource Needs: The greatest need, according to the Principal of the school, is for technology for the students. His goal would be to computerize the school databases and to provide computer training for all of this students. There are currently very few functioning computers and no internet connection for the school. The school cannot afford to pay the expensive internet connectivity charges on the island, and schools are responsible for all of these costs. The Principal also lamented that the school was suffering from a severe shortage of books; the government is usually responsible for providing books for the students, but they had recieved no money this year for this purpose. Additionally, the school does not have a functioning library.

Current Partnerships: With the community, the school has started a library foundation. The goal of the foundation is to have a functioning library complete with technology in two years. The community has partered with the local Community Development Fund for this purpose. The school currently has no other current foreign partnerships.

Challenges: The greatest challenge faced by the administration and the teachers of the school is instilling the desire to work and perform in the students. There is currently only a 50% passing rate for the boys in the school, which should be at least 75%, according to the adminstration. Another huge challenge is that there are not enough teachers in the school. The Principal, who is also new to the position, has brought in 10 new teachers in the last 3 months, but the school is still short qualified educators.

Sources of Pride: The Principal greatest source of pride is that, "It is possible to achieve with limited means."

Inspiration: What most inspires the adminstration and teachers of the school is meeting the challenges of the community. Over 10 of the current teachers in the school were once the Principal's students, and these are the people who continue to inspire and challenge him every day. I noted that there were significant challenges facing the school stemming from the lack of teachers. During my tour, there were a few classrooms left unattended, which is unfortunate for the students being denied an education due to a lack of proper teacher funding. The Principal was new, and was working hard to remedy this situation that had been handed to him from his predecessor.

Kenya: Lukenya Academy

Location: 1 hour outside the capital city of Nairobi, in a rural setting near the town of Athi River
Headmaster: Steve Paddington
Background: British Curriculum School with 150 student capacity/Private

Focus of the School: to teach through local contexts, adapting to the local needs; many International Standard schools in this part of the world teach exclusively a British or American Curriculum, which can be ridiculous for students living in another country. Lukenya Academy seeks to address these concerns by preparing their Kenyan students for the realities of life in Kenya once they graduate, focusing on such areas as the Kenyan economy and Kenyan ecology.

Teacher Training: teachers are given extensive training, both online and through links with the bigger British Schools in Kenya. Additionally, an exam board trainer visits the schools to instruct the teachers on modern teaching practices.

Goal of the School this is dictated by the parents; the goal tends to be higher education for most students, and 83% of the students last year qualified for a Kenyan Private University, a very high rate in comparison to both other private and public schools in Kenya

Library Development: all materials are ordered directly from the United Kingdom; the parents are responsible for purchasing all of the student's textbooks, which tends to be the biggest expense, at about 2500 shillings per year (30$).

Headmaster's Inspiration/Goals for the students: Mr. Paddington is inspired by the parents' academic dreams; he believes that "Everything can be taught through Kenyan eyes," and works to fufill this promise for his students. His goal is to focus on critical thinking for the students, something that is often lacking in the developing world. Additionally, he stresses that many of the students coming to Lukenya have failed in public schools in Kenya and internationally, but they can often turn their academic careers around in this setting and succeed where they have failed before. Additionally, the school lacks any AP classes, and struggles to motivate gifted students who would be benefiting from these courses.

Resources Needed: The most critical need is for more computers. The school is currently helped by "Computers for Schools," and Irish NGO, but they lack teacher computers. Additionally, the school is lacking reading books for the students. Parents are responsible for the purchase of textbooks, but casual reading books are overlooked and are in short supply for the students. The school would also greatly benefit from CDROM's for the students. A new science lab is currently being built from donations given by the parents.

Vision/Successes: Mr Paddington stated that, "Our greatest resources are our teachers." He envisions more group teaching in the future, and more relevant teacher training involving differentiation of styles and techniques. Most of the teachers come from Kenyatta University in Nairobi, and are responsible for designing their curriculums by department. He further detailed how ill-informed many Kenyan parents are about their children's educations; they tend to work with a "trust the leader" mentality that must be broken for education to truly progress in the country. Thus, Lukenya Academy is working to educate the parents as well as the children to be more proactive and critical in their thinking.