The neighborhood school

We walked up the road Saturday morning and decided to take a look into the schools while the kids were gone. They typically go to school for 3 months on and one month off and should have been off in April but because of the crisis in early 2008 their schedule is a bit behind. As we were looking into the rooms a boy came by and offered to give us a tour. His name was Jeffrey and is 9 years old although he was more mature than most 9 year olds. He told us their school day starts at 8:20 AM and finishes at 4:30 PM. They study math, English, biology, social studies, history, religious studies, Kiswahili and PE. They also take debate once a week. They're forbidden to speak the mother tongue of Luo at school and are punished if they do so. The texts are in English and so thy're trilingual at an early age.

Jeffrey said that the parents pay for their uniform and also pay a school fee to the PTA to help pay for teachers' salaries. Children start school at age 6 and their classroom is in an unfinished mud and wood building with a few old desks and a dirt floor (see photo). The primary classrooms are a bit posher with a blackboard at the front of the room and many desks and bench seats. Each class has about 50+ pupils.

The brightest students are sent on to secondary school which is also on the same campus. Graduates of secondary school have to wait one year before they start University and so some of them teach in the lower grades during that time. Students who don't qualify for University become "fundi's" (spelled phonetically) which means craftsmen or tradesmen, or they work on their family farm.