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(Article by Daniëlla van 't Erve, published in Het Onderwijsblad, 6 September 2003, the magazine of the Dutch Teachers Union
AOb.) Classes of around the hundred children are no exception. Teachers working double shifts is no exception either. Still, the new government in Kenya met its promise: as of January 2003 primary education is free of charge. As a result, an additional one and a half million children came to primary education. Teachers and heads of school do whatever possible, but sometimes they are so tired that they do not see their own children. "Nevertheless everyone is welcome. Actually, I'ld rather see another doubling of the number of children", says a head of school, "because education gives the children a chance to get away from the slum."
The students of the sixth grade stand up as soon as director Purity Maina enters the classroom. "Sit down, please", she says, while opening some windows. The 117 children try to find their places to go on with their work. Some children in front sit on what resembles a carpet, others share a schoolbench, five on each. Since the introduction of free education as of January 2003, the number of students at the Dr. Aggrey primary school, a primary school in a slum area of Nairobi in Kenya, has doubled. Youssef is of the many of children who now can go to school for the first time in his life. After the first test he could start in grade five. "But he did so well that already after one month he could more to grade six", says the director Maina. When Youssef stands up, one notes how tall he is.
"Eighteen years", he responds with his head bowed. More than seven years older than the rest of his classmates. Once outside the classroom, the director says that some boys are even older than twenty years, but are too ashamed to say so.
Free compulsary primary education was one of the promises made by the National Rainbow Coalition that won the Kenyan elections. Mwai Kibaki became president of Kenya in December 2002 and kept his promise. And at the start of the new school year in January, an additional one and a half million children reported at the public primary schools. "Overwhelming", states the ministry of education. Overwhelming indeed, because schools were ill-prepared.
The Dr. Aggrey primary school in Nairobi is of the 17,000 public primary schools in Kenya. Last year the school had 461 students, this year the total went up to 930. In particular the first grade showed tremendous growth. The Dr. Aggrey-school now has four first grade classes each one about sixty children. But also the other classrooms are overcrowded, the sixth grade being the top with 117 students. The teacher of grade six reported ill recently. Quite understandable, according to the head of school, Ms. Purity Maina. "She is a very good teacher, but it is impossible to handle such large classes. Teaching is not the only duty. Just imagine what it means to do the correction work for such great number of children. Some teachers say that they are so worn out that they hardly see their own children at home."
There is no lack of classrooms. On the contrary, seven classrooms of the Aggrey Primary school are unoccupied. However there are no funds to recruit more teachers. And there is a shortage of books, notebooks, tables, pens and so on. In the office of the head of school three computers stand idle: there is no money for the payment of the electricity. A school gets 1020 shillings (about thirteen euro) from the government per child. "Since the introduction of free education all parents refused pay the tuition fees. But the money which we receive from the government is not even enough to buy books. Since April electricity has been cut off, because we can no longer pay the bill. We decided to store the computers waiting for better times to come."
Safe
Although she has had 'a permanent headache' since January, the schooldirector fully supports the introduction of primary education free of charge. "I'ld love to have twice the number of students. I'ld be glad to have 2000 children in my school.
It is good that the children can go to school. Some take along their little brothers and sisters, even though they are still too young to attend. They consider the school as safe place to be. Away from an environment where in many instances the mother works as a prostitute and the father is addicted to alcohol. That is also one of the reasons why grade six is overcrowded, even through the teacher reported ill. In school they feel safe.
On top of a cupboard in the corner of her office is a collection of cups won by the school in school competitions. It is a sign that its students scored well in previous years at the final tests of grade eight. The head of school acknowledges that the quality of education decreases. "The introduction of free education went so fast that it led to some chaotic situations. At this moment it is impossible to provide quality education. A large part of what students learn nowadays deals with moral issues such as not stealing and showing respect. We put this emphasis because we see what kind of children come to school. For instance there is a girl that acts seducingly once a man enters the class. She is used to that sort of behavior at home. Bear in mind, some parents allow their children to work as prostitutes. Often even without condoms. "We'ld rather die of AIDS than of hunger" is their response. One child asked me to talk with her mother and tell her not to bring men to her home because that prevented her from concentrating on the home work. Really, the children want to study and learn. That is why I say that all children are welcome to our school, since education gives them a chance to get out of the slums.
Taboo
Teachers make a lot of extra hours. In some schools they even do double shifts. In the morning one class and in the afternoon the second group. The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), organising over 250,000 teachers, highly regrets this situation. For many years the union has been fighting for education free from tuition fees and emphasized the need of having an adequate number of qualified teachers. "We are very happy that the new Government kept its promise. It made a step in the right direction by introducing education free of charge", says KNUT president Joseph Chirchir. After a series of negotiations the union reached an agreement on improving the teachers´ salaries. "But now it is time that funds are made available for hiring more teachers."
KNUT estimates that an additional 60,000 teachers are needed. The union takes the view that the promise of 7,000 addtional teachers by far does not meet the needs. "One can only talk about Quality when we are able to reduce the class size down to 35 or 40. In Kenya we already faced a teachers´ shortage of about 35,000. That shortage has increased dramatically since the introduction of Free education." To a large extent the teachers are there because the previous Government cut heavily on teaching staff. The World Bank demanded a decrease of staff in order to cut on Government expenditure. The previous Government met that demand, resulting in over 30,000 qualified teachers being unemployed.
KNUT insists that these teachers get back to work and that more students enter teachers´ training colleges. The need for more teachers is there, even more so when one takes into account that one out of five teachers is HIV infected. The union takes a very pro-active stand through prevention programs. Posters "Stop AIDS, face it, it starts with you" are to be found in many places in the KNUT office in Nairobi. "We can not lean back and assume that the HIV/AIDS problem will automatically be solved. Talking about the disease is taboo for many. And quite often you hear that when somebody is HIV infected, this is the will of God. AIDS prevention requires a change in attitude and behavior. Teachers have to give the right example",says Nyambala of KNUT.
Ugly
"A Hyena is an ugly animal. Who knows the opposite of ´ugly´? The question is raised by Ms. Millicent Arodi. She has to speak very loud since she is confronted with a class of over 80 seven-year-old pupils. Not all of them are equally involved, but all of them are quiet. Through the thin wooden wall one can hear the children of the neighbouring class rehearsing the alphabet. About eight children share one textbook. Some even try to read the book upside down. Ms. Arodi gives them a hint. "The opposite of girl is boy. What is the opposite of ugly?" "Beautiful", says a little girl from the back of the class. "Very good", says Ms. Arodi. "A hyena is not beautiful, because it is a bad animal."
The Ajucha Primary School in the village Awasi truly is a rural school. The number of pupils increased tremendously and now reaches 653. The lower grades are in an old wooden building. The upper grades in a brick building. Some classrooms are empty. One is a storage room for wood. The staff room is dark and dusty. The school lacks six teachers. One teachers acts as volunteer. "It is not easy to maintain order being confronted with so many children", says senior teacher Blasio Ooko Agunja. "On top of that, it is quite burdensome to do the corrections. There simply is no time to do so. Sometimes I just put them at work so I can do corrections during school hours."
The children who recently started school are either orphans or are from very poor families. Most of them can not afford to pay for their school uniform. They walk on sandals or barefoot. Some have to walk over one hour to reach school. "We accept everyone, also those without uniform. But the problem is that some older children have difficulty adapting to school life. For them it is very frustrating, even more so when classes are overcrowded and there is a lack of books and noteblocks. At some other schools you see a high drop out rate. Fortunately, we have succeeded in keeping all on board", says William R. Kimenye, head of school.
Rikshaw
The English lesson in grade eight deals with a computer at home. Pictures explaining the 'mouse' and the 'screen' are in the textbook and most students identify these parts easily. Most children wear clothes in blue and white, resembling the school uniform. Some even wear the official uniform and have their books in plastic bags. In reply to the question of the teachers for what purpose computer technology is applied, the students say: 'the washing machine'. This is their reply even though there is no electricity at home or at school and most of them never saw a computer. "That is no problem", says Blasio Ooko Agunja, "In geography class you can talk about other countries without having visited them, isn't it? I am quite sure that later on they benefit from this information on computers."
"The teachers do whatever they can", says Ooko Agunja, "but the main issue is how long they can keep on going like this. Some primary schools in a neighbouring district closed their doors in protest. We are happy with the salary increase but the salaries remain too low to make the profession attractive. For instance, we receive one hundred Kenya Shillings (Euro 1,25) for travel allowance. The fare for a rikshaw ride to my school is about 20 Kshilling. So the total costs exceed the allowance by far.
Hunger
The introduction of free education in Kenya was a major step forward in achieving the goals that were agreed upon at the World Conference on Education in 2000 in Dakar: all children have the right to get free and compulsory education. That shoud be achieved before 2015. But in Kenya that goal has not been achieved yet. " An estimated 2 million children do not attend school", says KNUT´s Paul Nyambala. "In order to prevent starvation, some children are forced to work. Girls are doing the household and quite often boys are the only breadwinners. AIDS made one generation disappear, many children are orphans. Grandparents are too old and children have to ensure the income. For instance by cattle herding.
The ministry of education takes the view that first of all a solution has to be found for all the problems existing within the school. Only then parents can be forced to send their children to school. KNUT partially shares this view. "It is obvious that more teachers must be recruited and that there must be more funds for buying books etc. So as to ensure the quality of education. But that does not exclude that it is very important that indeed children attend school. We have to convince the mothers that it is not good to keep their daughters at home to do the cleaning. We schould not wait till we have achieved quality education."
The Government is already taking into consideration to introduce secondary education free of charge. "Taking such step is a logical one", is the union response,"but let us make sure that primary education is in good shape by then. Maybe in four years, and after better preparations we can introduce free secondary education."
Blasio Ooko Agunja, senior teacher of the Ajucha Primary school in Awasi is much more cautious. "The Government was installed only recently and made many many promises. Ranging from free education to free healthcare. I wonder how long they can maintain such policies. What will remain of all the promises made when this Government collapses? What will remain of education free of charge??" |
