HABARI NEWS: FEBRUARY 2018
The month of February has been reported to have gone on well in Father Ntaiyia Jubilee School. It was reported that students were well focused in learning and other school activities. In the first place they may have realized that the changes with the New Year are there, they are new grades where text books and teachers have changed and class work as well has moved to a higher level. The teachers on their part made sure they are familiar with the workload for the semester and that they have the course books and learning materials required for them to teach. Father Ntaiyia School is in an area that has well equipped book shops that have all that is needed in schools and we have never had any problems purchasing what we need. I know from my (Fr. Ntaiyia) teaching in the past that Lesson preparation and working on schemes of work calls teachers’ attention to what they need.
One of the official activities during this time of the school year is computer registration of the end of the year public examination candidates and it is reported that all our students for this exam this year were successfully registered thanks to our competent teachers who can use computers.
DROUGHT IN KENYA
As I write this report, rains have been reported in some parts of Kenya. The President of Kenya has declared the current drought a national disaster last February. Last week, Kenya Red Cross started a campaign to raise money to feed 3.4 million Kenyans faced with hunger across the country. “We need to move first to tame the current situation as some of the counties have already crossed to the alarming stage,” he said. Kenya depends mainly on rain-fed agriculture. When poor seasonal rainfall is recorded throughout the year, the country struggles to feed its people.
More than three million Kenyans are facing hunger across the country and the Kenya Red Cross organization has already appealed for money in aid of the affected families. Children remain the most affected by the drought as they are forced to leave school in search of food and water. One million children are expected to drop out of school this year should the situation remain the same.
The lack of potable water also raises the occurrence of water-borne diseases such as cholera and diarrhea. Donor agencies such as the United Nations are calling on the international community to help alleviate the drought effects. Urgent support in terms of food supplies and water are required for hundreds of villagers across the county. Our Head Teacher wrote, “There are reports that the rivers are almost drying up completely and this is really a serious problem that only nature can solve. In fact, if the situation continues, many people and institutions like ours will find it hard to get water for use. Even the suppliers of clean water in town have also shared the same concern.”
POLITICALLY it appears the country has not gone back to normal after the last elections. The government and the opposition seem to be at a rift on some minor issues and even though it may not affect learning in schools directly, communities are and so the students in a way are. We have a proverb: When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. Meaning: elephants are so tough, that when they fight they can hardly hurt each other, as the grass that is being trampled by them is harmed greatly. Same as when two large entities battle, it is the smaller entities that suffer. In other words, when some leaders fight they might not be hurting each other but others around them are hurting just seeing them fighting.
NEW CURRICULUM
I trust our readers and especially Friends of Father Ntaiyia Jubilee School are already familiar with the on-going information on the change of education curriculum in Kenya.
Implementation of the new curriculum in Kenya continued to be discussed and the results of piloting does not seem to be very clear. For the first time we have been asked to buy text books for third graders in line with the new curriculum. We have ordered the books and the teachers are going to start using them. The current system has been criticized for being heavily loaded in terms of content and exam oriented.
The new system presents a standard shift on how the learning process should take place. It places more emphasis on learners’ mental ability to process issues and proposes a practical framework that nurtures competencies of learners based on their passions and talents. A lot of emphasis is put on what they are calling Continuous Assessment Tests over one-off examinations that has been proven to be an inadequate tool to assess a learner. Therefore, at the point of transition to secondary (High) school there shall be no national examination to sift the candidates. The challenges are, the path to its implementation does not seem to be well paved. First, it is believed that the most challenging aspect would be the cost factor. The new curriculum is meant to ensure all the children transition to secondary education. This means as it stands in Kenya now, more than a million more vacancies in secondary schools, thus increasing the demand for the secondary education five- fold in the country. This will require more teachers, more classrooms, and other facilities. That this will be possible, is another question without an immediate answer but fear that completion of elementary school level could be the end of education for most children. I must say it is a concern that has persisted in my mind (Father Ntaiyia) as I continue dreaming of a High School especially for girls. When the current curriculum was introduced the expectation was to prepare children for the job market. The question now is whether the new system – with all the good plans- leads to a repeat of the challenges brought about by the current system.
VISITING DAY:
The highlight for the month of February was the parents visiting day that was on Saturday 24th, a day parents come to visit their children in school. A week before the visiting day the students take their midterm examinations that are graded, and the results are among the reasons for parents to meet with the class teacher and share on the progress of their child. Some parents may want to meet with the Head Teacher and some if need be meet with the School Matron who mainly deals with the health welfare of the students.
From the Head Teacher briefing “The last visiting day, 24th February, was quite successful. We had ample time to interact with the parents. As expected this day brought with it a lot of excitement especially to those who joined boarding for the very first time. Most parents appreciated the good learning environment at Father Ntaiyia Jubilee School and such comments always take my mind to all friends of Father Ntaiyia School over the years who have made it possible. Some parents requested we may also consider giving the students a mid-term break.” Such a break allows the children to go home for a few days. I (Fr. Ntaiyia) would like to have further discussion with parents on this because the first two trimesters are longer now than two years ago. However, we need to consider transport cost and that such a break will not interfere with guidelines of syllabus outline and finally the schools now have two months’ break at the end of the year in Kenya.
After meeting and sharing with teachers on their children the parents, guardians or those visiting on their behalf have time to share with their children. They bring food to share and some of them come with siblings who are always eager to see their sister or brother. They also bring some supplies such as soaps, shoe polish, for the rest of the trimester. For some parents it is the first visit if they have not had their child in a boarding school before and would be looking forward to seeing and hearing how their child has settled in and progressing. Most of the children like it and have stories to tell on their new school, friends and activities. Although all parents may attempt to make it on this day, we allow parents to briefly visit when they are in town so long as they do not interrupt their child’s school activities.
I commend our teaching staff and other workers in the school for the efforts they make to take care of the students. I spoke with five parents by phone on the visiting day and generally hearing from them that they are happy with the school.
Fr. Symon Ntaiyia