Matopeni — Community School System (Day 44)

I went to Matopeni which is near Kongowea Market— among the largest market in East  and Central Africa, again bringing with chalks. This is the second time that I went there. At Matopeni, there is a small community school (Last time’s blog post is here) that holds the baby, Kg (Kindergarten) 1-3, Grade 1. Total of the students are more than 130, and those students learn one small classroom. This school has been managed by a brave and enthusiastic teacher.

“To the inception of the school was an idea that was generated by a England woman who supported the local women to start a school which she supported for a period before she felt ill and later relocated to England. The children were then studying under a tree and when Muungano Support Trust  build a social hall for the community, the children were allowed in and the hall became the class that currently host three classes with 129 children” (Last blog post).

This school is operated as a community school that the community manages the school operation. The system is similar to the charter school system in the US in terms community or individuals manages school, but the differences between the charter school and Kenyan community school is government subsidiary. The charter schools get government subsidiary as a public school but the Kenyan community schools don’t.

Community School System

One benefit of this school system is that the children can go to the school with low tuition comparing with private schools in primary level and public and private school in nursery level. Since private school has to pay Ksh 100,000 ($1,140) per year to its government in Kenya, the cost returns to children’s tuition.

Public schools in primary level Kenya is free, but a lot of school past its capacity, so sometimes they reject entering new students. Because of this reason, some students have to go to private schools even if its tuition seriously affects one’s household finances.

Also, the nursery level in Kenya is not free even in public school. Currently government plans free nursery education but it might still need time. Even in public nursery school, it costs Ksh 2,400/year and Ksh 200 for admission. This cost still burdens for the people who live in slum areas, even if education is the way that changes their lives.

In Matopeni, each child pays Ksh 100 per month, but half of the children aren’t afforded to pay because they are orphans— this area is still affected by HIV.

This school has a lot of challenges such as capacity (130 pupils for one class), facilities (no toilet, no water supply), lack of teachers, lack of school materials such as chairs, tables, textbooks, and pens. Under this condition, keeping the quality of education is difficult, but providing chance of education for children who don’t affordable for the current educational system is important.

One reason is that the children learn basic literature and calculation at the nursery level, so lacking those knowledge causes trouble to follow primary level.

The take away by visiting the community school is the system of the community school and knowing minimum operating cost and passion of the teacher.

Toilet area of the school on the playground