Enrichment

Education Enrichment – One Child, One Book

The Education Enrichment Project operates in Chepsaita Primary School. The school offers a nursery class and instruction in Standards (grades) 1 -8. The ratio of students to teachers is quite high, at times 65:1. The ratio of students to books was also very high, on average 8 students shared 1 book. As a result the quality of education suffered.

Since 2009, UwK has supplied student textbooks, teacher edition instruction books, storybooks, learning boards in numeracy, alphabet, and object recognition, maps, chalk, and other materials that teachers need to provide quality education to Chepsaita nursery, primary and secondary school and to several neighboring community schools. UwK also financially supports the employment of one Chepsaita Primary School teacher, which has allowed a high volume class to be separated into two smaller classes.

Since the project’s inception in 2009, dramatic improvements in the quality of education have been realized. The percentage of students qualifying (based on national examination scores) for secondary school (high school) admission rose from 50% to 100% in 2016. Class size has been reduced partially as a result of UwK’s support of an additional teacher. Grades 1 through 6 have received textbooks in English, Math and Science: UwK’s goal is to reach a ratio of 1:1, (One Child, One Book project), for each academic subject. The range of educational materials provided has expanded.

In 2003, nursery school children had no desks; toddlers sat on a dirt floor shielded by a decaying roof supported by rotting timbers. During the rainy season they sat in mud. The latrine built for young children was no longer usable. Donations allowed big changes to the nursery school, and most importantly, to the educational experience of the children: a new roof, a concrete floor, large windows bringing in light and a breeze, desks for children and a new latrine with a door and a more hygienic concrete floor.