Kenya: Conquering visual impairment

• BY GODFREY WAMALWA, API,10/7/2013

When you thought that being blind defines you,then meet Mr. Chrispinus  Waswa a  teacher at Mbakalo Friends Secondary school in Bungoma North District who has conquered his visual impairment.

Mr.Waswa,36,succumbed to blindness at a tender age but has stood out in his teaching profession by helping many of his students pass with  sterling colours..

But a single day that doomed his visualness, while practicing for a school tournament in standard five, was hit by the ball on his right eye which lost sight immediately and unfortunately it also affected the left eye and was taken to Kakamega General  hospital for operation.

Worse of it,was discovered that his condition was a permanent agony hence he had to be transferred to a special school so as to further his education using the special Braille machines.

He says that it was the most trying time in his life as he came from a humble background and his parents could not afford to take him to a special school forcing him to stay at home as they looked for well wishers to fund his education.

After  years,Mr.Waswa got sponsorship through the ministry of education which bought him the Braille machines as well as trained one of the teachers at his former Namamuka primary school to teach him as he went back to standard five.

Suprisngly, he turned up to be a very bright pupil and by topping in  class a position he maintained up to the KCPE examination where he scored 476 marks out of 700.

He secured a Form one chance at  Bungoma high school and sat for his KCSE exam in 2000 and managed a direct entry to the university with a grade B. He however ventured  into  teaching course by specialising in Kiswahili and History subjects.

After he  graduated in 2006 and soon the uphill task of job hunting was a thing to engage  as he had to dance the tune of job seeking.

I however he managed to secure a chance at Bungoma high school where I  taught for some short period of time before the Teachers Service Commission advertised for a vacancy at Mbakalo Friends Secondary school and i was confirmed.

To Mr.Waswa,it was miraculously as among the fifteen applicants who showed up he was the only one who qualified and has been a teacher at the school since the year 2010 and thanked the school principal Habil Malika for providing a conducive environment for him.

“My  colleagues are  supportive and also the students are very comfortable with me”said Waswa. Apart from teaching he has been delegated with other responsibilities of being the teacher in charge of drama as well as the head of Kiswahili as a subject saying he enjoyed being in company of his students.

His advice to  people living with disabilities is that they should not to be demoralized by their condition but rather work hard towards achieving the best for themselves as his own is a true testimony that anything is possible with determination.

Married with three children and has also been able to purchase land for himself as well as constructing a house for his mother back at home something he says could not have been possible if he could have allowed his condition to overcome his ability.

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Kenya: School dormitory burnt down

• BY GODFREY WAMALWA, API-Kenya

Parents and pupils of   of Blessed Academy Nomorio in Mt. Elgon District are counting loses after Property worth thousands of shillings was destroyed  after at night inferno  burnt down a dormitory. The school director Mrs. Grace Ayeta said the fire broke out at around 7:30 pm when the pupils were in class. The school head further  reiterated that all the property that were inside the dormitory were destroyed but no one was injured.

She called upon the well-wishers to support them where possible so that the pupils can continue with their studies.

However, the deputy Mt. Elgon DEO Alice Sitawa and Kapsokwony AEO Samuel Maraka who visited the school urged the parents to support the school so that the pupils continue learning without a problem. This is not the first time for the school to experience this, last year September the same dormitory was burnt down but was rebuilt.

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Kenya: Bungoma County Target recruitment of 800 Early Childhood Development (ECD) teachers

• BY GODFREY WAMALWA,API,KENYA

Bungoma county government in collaboration with the ministry of education have started a registration process that would in the end have at least 800 Early Childhood Development (ECD) teachers recruited.

Speaking while overseeing the exercise in Bungoma North District, the  county programs officer in charge of early childhood education Mr.Kennedy Sabwami Ndalila revealed that the process is aimed at strengthening the education foundation by motivating the teachers in the area.

Mr Sabwami further said that the  process is being conducted in the nine districts of Bungoma County and appealed to teachers  with valid certificates to show up.

According to the officer,Certificates of those who registered will be vetted by a selected team at the county level in order to attain the 800 qualified teachers that will be employed and dispatched to work in the eight hundred public schools within Bungoma County.

He also urged the parents to let their children pursue the ECD course saying it has now gained recognition among the education stakeholders that have seen the importance of investing in it.

The teachers who showed up for the registration process could not hide their joy and thanked the Bungoma county governor Kenneth Lusaka for his humble initiative to have them paid by the county government for their services saying they had suffered for long.

 

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Bukura to offer scholarship to its community – Kenya

• BY GODFREY WAMALWA, API KENYA,

Bukura Agricultural Training College in Kakamega county is set to offer free scholarships to students from the surrounding community,the college principal has revealed.

The popular move has been prompted by a general apathy by parents from local community to send their children to the institute  to study agriculture to boost food production in the area.

The college’s principal Mr. Justus Simiyu said the initiave under the institution’s social corporate responsibility will initially start with five students and increase depending on availability of funds.

He further revealed that the first batch of students is expected to start this year but due to budget constraints the programme has been pushed forward.

During this year’s graduation Mr.Simiyu had expressed a concern he raised last year during another graduation over continued low student enrolment from surrounding communities.

He said while the college admits students from other areas in the country to train in agriculture, the community around had shunned taking their students to the college.

Mr.Simiyu is optimistic that the free scholarship the college will offer, will address the problem of low enrolment and boost food production in the area.

 

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Involve private schools in laptop projects, Govt told

• BY GODFREY WAMALWA, API KENYA

Private school owners drawn from populated Bungoma County have appealed to the government to involve them in the laptop project .

The secretary of private school owners association in Bungoma County Japheth Mayabilo has said that parents with pupils in private schools are also taxpayers and therefore the government should involve them in the project.

The secretary further said that it will be discriminative for the government to exclude them from the laptops project and yet they cover the same syllabus and they will sit the same national examination.

“The government would have mocked our children rights if it denies them equal treatment when it comes to matters to do with education”he said.

He argued that excluding children from private schools will be doing a disservice to them and they may not be able to compete favorably in the job market because of their level of technology.

The secretary also expressed fear that private schools may lose market because many children will prefer schools with laptops.

 

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Kenya: Parliamentatian Serut calls for the transfer of all education officials accusing them of not improving education standards in his region

• By Godfrey Wamalwa,Bungoma,26/6/2013

An Mp  has called on the ministry of Education to transfer all education officials in the region for failing to improve the education standards.

Mount Elgon legislator  John. Serut claimed all education officers who have over-stayed for over three years both in Cheptais and Mt. Elgon districts should be transferred saying they are of no value to the area residents evidenced by dismal performance both in KCPE and KCSE exams last year.

Speaking in Kapsokwony town in Mt. Elgon district where he accused Cheptais DEO Jacob Wanyama and his Mt. Elgon counterpart Pius Ng’oma and Zonal education officers for failing to deliver on their mandate to improve the ailing education standards in Mt. Elgon region.

He noted that the  government should move the officers and deploy competent officers .

Serut added that it was a shame that Mt. Elgon hit headlines in the media negatively after over 17 girls at Chepukurkur Primary school in Cheptais were impregnated because of what he termed as insensitive and negligence on the part of the education officers.

“This is total shame, in this era and age over 17 girls from one school being impregnated when we have education officers, this officers should not be spared, the government should take stern action on them for sleeping on their jobs when hungry men are sexually molesting under age school girls,” he said.

“Tthe teenage pregnancies in Chepkurkur primary school in Cheptais district was as a result of a dis-connect between the education officials and school managers with the perpetrators taking advantage of the situation to molest innocent school girls”he added.

Mr. Serut noted that education standards in the region cannot be compromised by people who are mandated to manage the sector while appealing to Bungoma County TSC Director in charge of teacher development Mrs. Angelica Ouya and his counterpart in charge of the ministry of Education Mr. Daniel Mosibei to walk the talk including cracking the whip in order to address challenges affecting the education sector in Mt. Elgon.

Further, he blamed Mt. Elgon DEO Pius Ng’oma for failing to disburse bursty funds to needy students in the region.

 

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Kenya: Kimilili District Deputy County Commissioner castigates drunkard teachers in the region

• By Godfrey Wamalwa,Bungoma,26/6/2013

“I want to warn the teachers  who report to their work while drunk that the government will not tolerate such behavior and stern action will be taken against them,”that is a warning bell that Kimilili district deputy county commissioner has sent to the teachers.

Addressing students of  Kibingei Friends’ secondary school in Kimilili District after the students went on a rampage and marched for about seven kilometers to his office, citing poor management by the school’s principal.

While presenting their grievances the students alleged that the Principal Mrs. Scholastic Mukui sends them home regularly for school fees as well as talking ill of their parents terming them as poor an issue that did not get down well with them.

They further claimed that she does not coordinate her staff well as some teachers are normally drunk hence cannot attend to their lessons well an issue that has affected the syllabus coverage for a long time especially to the candidates and having few teachers for chemistry, biology and agriculture.

“Our school  has been disqualified from participating in the regional football competition, reasons being that one of the players was found to be nineteen years of age an issue they said was aimed at sabotaging their efforts to nurture their talents away from academics”claimed the students.

However, Kimilili district quality assurance and standards officer Andrew Shiundu said it was a national rule that all students who are supposed to represent a school in a games completion should be eighteen years of age and below.

 Kimilili deputy county commissioner Joseph Lewa also urged the Teachers’ Service Commission to address the issue of under-staffing in the entire district by deploying more teachers to avoid such strike issues in future.

He further cautioned teachers who report on duty while drunk saying the government officers in charge will conduct a thorough investigation and those implicated will face the law.

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Kenya: Education officer lauds Mbakalo school head

• BY GODFREY WAMALWA, BUNGOMA

Ministry of Education and parents from Bungoma North district have lauded  Mbakalo High School administration for its positive performance posted in the last year national examinations.

Speaking during district education day at Mukuyuni Girls High School,Bungoma North Education officer Mr George Ogando noted that Mbakalo High school principal Mr Habil Maliga for his school emerging academic giants in the area in 2012 KCSE examination.

Mr. Maliga commitment towards his career saw the school lead in the district thus being awarded as the best principal in the district.

The education officer also challenged other school heads to work extra hard to improve performances in their various schools.

Meanwhile the Kenya National Union of Teachers KNUT led by the Executive Secretary of Bungoma East District Mr. Aggrey Namisi has revealed that the transfer of teachers in the area  has been influenced by political influence from the area Member of Parliament Alfred Sambu.

He condemned political influence in running of schools which he said leads to poor performance in the schools and called upon Sambu to leave the education sector to be run by the set authorities in-charge of education in the district.

The unionist also claimed  the transfer to be against the law which does not permit for middle of the year transfers of teachers and called for the relevant authorities involved in the transfer to withdraw it.

“Transfer of teachers are supposed to be done at the end of the year and not at the middle of the year and that in itself tells us just how this transfer is not well founded,” said Namisi.

However, District Education Officer Mrs. Immaculate Obare noted the risks involved in students walking on the roadsides in the name of demonstrations and called upon the students to be communicating their grievances through relevant channels in the schools before going out on the streets to demonstrate.

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Kenya: Giants Ndivisi Girls reawakens

• BY GODFREY  WAMALWA, BUNGOMA,

The problem of being or having an average child with a near perfect child and discipline is that you always be tussling to measure up and your shortcomings are likely to be magnified many times over.

And that could be what it feels like to be at Ndivisi Girls High School in Bungoma East district, the next school that is literally next door neighbor to the famous Lugulu Girls High School.

While Lugulu Girls is renown to be quintessence of excellence and discipline Ndivisi Girls has had its share of laying proper strategies to appear in a national map.

Yet Ndivisi Girls is determined to change its images for the better,with the school Sh.18 Million project  funded by webuye CDF for establishing  classroom block in Ndivisi Girls High School which is a provincial school situated in the new Webuye East Constituency that now educationists  believes might pose academic threat to  the much revered Lugulu Girls that is now in Webuye West Constituency but within the same district.

The recent book harvesting event,which saw school lovers donates book in hundreds, is considered to be one of its strategic plan aiming to turn the institution to be a centre of academic excellence and a product of high achievers that it was in the past.

The initiative has been received with enthusiasm from parents,teachers and students.The school now is expects exemplary performance from Form Four candidates because teachers have already  rolled up their sleeves through lead them in a series of exams  and other revision materials.

Gracing the colorful event,Bungoma east secondary schools head association chairperson Mr Christopher Manyonge applaueded the girls discipline as it has shown to do better compared to other years.

The noble event is set to provide the girls with enough learning materials to improve its national exam results.The school has risen from a mean score of 4.3(2009)5.3(2010) , 5.792(2011)and 5.077 in (2012).

On having a better disciplined body of students and flamboyant teaching staff,the school principal Mrs.Judith Wamocho has made significant strides since she took over as the principal.

With a manageable population of  360 students,Mrs.Wamocho vision is to see the school stand out as an oasis of academic and sporting success. She believes the feat can only be achieved through the institution’s ability to strike a balance between academic work and co-curriculum activities.

The school which in the recent past won national and the East Africa netball title,saw the gallant girls tour various parts of Africa and Kenya.

API has also established that due to its growing popularity, many students and parents have been trooping to the school hoping to gain admissions.

Mrs.Wamocho who is credited of her impressive development records and no-nonsense approach issues affecting her team, girls are now rolling up their sleeves for a duel of the century despite of the remoteness of the institution.

She is also determined to see her girls being assimilated at the national level and is trying to establish links with more learning materials.

The school idyllic setting is perfect for study and recreation.The management has also invested heavily in turning the premises green hence maintaining a clean,healthy environment while the strong Christian foundation influence puts discipline and self respect ahead of everything else.

An academician,Moses Andati,who admires  her  style of school management,argues that if given full support both from the government and entire Ndivisi community,the institution might be one of the admired schools in the region in the near future.

Attached is the school learning block that was funded by Webuye CDF.

 

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Kenya: Sodomizing two boys and defiling a minor – man gets life imprisonment

• BY JACK MARWA , Kenya

 

A Naivasha court has sentenced a sixty year old man to life imprisonment and 40 years in jail after he was found guilty of sodomizing two boys and defiling a minor.

Jacob Kahiga Ndung’u was found guilty of sodomizing two boys aged twelve years at Fara-inya village in Nyandarua County

According to the charge sheets, on diverse dates between May 2011 and June 2011 in the village forcefully sodomized the minors.

The court was told that the accused who was a teacher in the Ragia Forest Primary school ordered the boys to go and cook for him in his house later to sodomize them forcefully.

The children narrated in the court how the accused threatened them with dire consequences if they dared disclosed to anyone.

On the next incident the accused a teacher, order a nine-year old girl to go and fetch the water in a nearby river and cook for him.

It was at this point, when the minor came back got the teachers undressed and forcefully defiled her in promise that she could pay her Sh 10.

In her ruling, Naivasha resident magistrate Esther Bhoke pointed out that the prosecution had provided enough evidence that the accused committed the acts.

She said that it was unfortunate that instead of the accused protecting the minors had gone to an extent of losing trust with the children.

In mitigation the man pleaded for forgiveness, a plea that the magistrate threw it away and reminded that he had 14 days to appeal.

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Kenya: Girl child education should be taken seriously

• By Maurice Alal,API Kenya

EDUCATION stakeholders in Nyanza Region have been urged to join hands in educating girl child so as to improve their future lives.

West Gem County Assembly member Mr. Jared Abayo said girl child education is much sensitive that needs a lot of attention by both the parents and teachers.

http://www.africanpress.me/ School girls in Kenya

He adds that for many years girl child education have not been given first priority as compared to boy child across the country especially in rural areas.

This, he said has made the performance of girl child to lag behind due to negligence by education stakeholders especially parents and even some of the teachers in various schools.

Addressing parents, students and teachers at Nyagondo Secondary school during the education and price giving day, Abayo decried the high rate of school drop out especially girls in the region.

http://www.africanpress.me/ School girls in Kenya

“Most of these girls drop out of school due to lack of school fees, lack of clothing, unwanted pregnancy and poverty that force them to streets to provide for their siblings,” says Abayo.

This Abayo said call for immediate intervention by the government to find an amicable solution to the problem saying education is the only way to change the lives of these young girls.

However, he further challenge children to embrace education by maintain self-discipline at the highest level for the betterment of their education.

Abayo pointed out inadequate teachers, lack of equipment and infrastructure as the major challenges that children are facing in most schools across the region.

This has resulted to poor performance and called upon the government through the ministry of education to increase the teacher and student ratio in schools so as to improve education sector in the country.

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Kenya: Fire takes down Kamusinde Secondary School dormitory – over 100 students stranded

• BY GODFREY WAMALWA, API KENYA 

Fire gutted down a dormitory at Kamusinde Secondary School in Bungoma County leaving over 100 students stranded and property of unknown value destroyed.

However, no one was injured as the incident happened at noon when student were in classrooms undertaking their early second term examination.

The school’s management declined to divulge details concerning the incident when press contacted it.

“Please give us time to assess the damage and establish the cause of the fire, then we can give you details later,” said one of board members.

The administration also assured parents that their children are safe and there is no reason to panic

The area Mp Hon Suleiman Murunga visited the school and promised to aid the re-construction of the dormitory.

Elsewhere,two schools in Mt. Elgon District are counting losses after heavy rains pounded the area and destroyed 2 pit latrines on Monday evening.

Head teachers of the two schools Kongit primary school and Bishop Okiring Kamneru secondary school have been urged to immediately reconstruct the toilets before the schools re-open.

Mt. Elgon District Education Officer Pius Ng’oma said that the problem is because of poor workmanship.

“The constructions of these pit latrines were not done properly, it’s actually a shoddy work and that’s why they say cheap is expensive,” Mr. Ng’oma said.

He called on all head teachers to always supervise any construction in the school to make sure they are done according to the expected standards in order to prevent future damages.

However the head teacher of Bishop Okiring Secondary has called on well-wishers to come to their rescue to help them put up other pit latrines as the students report back to school for second term.

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Parents in Likuyani District have been called upon to heavily invest in the education of their children

• By GODFREY WAMALWA, API KENYA

Over 600 orphaned children from Lugari district have received a donation of school uniforms from Aphia plus through a community based organization– Mkombozi.

Mkombozi CBO’s offices at Pan Paper, Mr. Emmanuel Khaemba an officer from the CBO commended Aphia plus for caring for orphaned children and the disadvantaged in the society.

He said his organization was taking care of over 3,000 orphaned children in the larger Lugari district who deserved help.

Besides the uniform donation, he said Aphia plus was also committed to ensuring the children received other attendant care such as fees bursaries for the secondary school education, standard home care among other social amenities.

He also revealed that his organization was on the forefront in ensuring that the area was served with safe drinking water arguing that it was crucial to conserve water sources.

Accompanied with district public health officer, Mr. Elphas Imbai,he also appealed to more humanitarian agencies to aid orphaned children adding that they faced a myriad of challenges.

The beneficiaries expressed their joy and thanked the two organizations for working tirelessly to see that they get all the basic needs, live a good life and enjoy their living in the society like other children.

Parents in Likuyani District have been called upon to heavily invest in the education of their children and as well guide them to pursue subjects relevant to their envisaged careers. Chairperson to a head teachers’ caucus in the area, Mrs. Mary Manyonge said majority of the students encountered problems while making subject choices in secondary schools ending up pursuing unlikeable careers.

At the same time, Mrs. Manyonge advised them to ensure equal opportunities were also availed to their daughters to enable them effectively compete for available job opportunities with their male counterparts.

She chided that it will be a waste of time for some parents to be contented with their daughters reaching the fourth form but pointed out that they should be allowed to join tertiary institutions and ultimately universities.

“At the moment when the country is preparing to launch county governments, it will be pertinent for parents to bequeath their children with education to ensure that they effectively fitted in the new dispensation,” she said.

Mrs. Manyonge who is also the principal of Matunda secondary school which is ranked among the best performing schools in the district noted that it was important for competing schools to collaborate with views to exchanging ideas.

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Kenya: 650 orphans uplifted – their school needs to be met.

• By GODFREY WAMALWA, API,KENYA

Over 650 orphans and poor students from rural Matete district in Kakamega County have a reason to smile after an independent organization Nuclear students Trust issued 3 million Kenya shillings to carter for their school fees.

The students from various schools in the district will in the next term not worry over lack of school fees.The initiative by the Nuclear Student Trust(NST)and other financial plyers is expected to provide the orphans with a solution towards the challenges they experience during their learning process where many end up missing schools due to lack of school fees.

More than 1800 free blankets will be distributed to orphans to marginal areas of the districts where access to basic education and transition rates from Primary to Secondary school remain low. According to the project coordinator Mr.John Kariuki,said the fund donated is expected to restore hope among learning orphans as they pursue their academic dreams.”Poor access to funds has greatly inconvenienced them and impacted negatively in their performance at school” said Mr Karuiki.

Alphino Angoya,a concern resident hailed the sponsors for the timely intervention saying that most of the less fortunate students have been forced to drop out of the school due to lack of school fees.

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Kenya: Educate girl child, Bondo residents Told

• By Maurice Alal, API Kenya

The residents of Bondo District of Siaya County have been told to educate girl child just like the boy child to enable them have a bright future.

Surveys done by API on girl child education shows that most of the girls are not given ample times to study as compared to boys thereby making their life miserable.

The report indicates that out of 100 children only 20 are girls attending learning activities due to various factors such as early pregnancy, domestic chores and inadequate time to them.

This is a move which educationist in the area are now worried about prompting a call to parents in the community to promote education to all children.

Speaking during a prize giving ceremony at St. Mathews Sironyo Academy which excelled in the last year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams in the County, the school’s Director, Jackstone Akelo flanked by Mrs. Caroline Akelo said most of the parents usually ignore girl child education hence ruining their future.

“Many a time girls are given a lot of domestic chores such as washing utensils and clothes, cooking fetching water and firewood among others that deny them opportunity to go to school like boys,” Akelo says.

He added that St. Mathews Sironyo Academy produced the best candidates in Siaya County with top students admitted to Mangu Boys High, Pagani Girls and Kenya Girls High respectively expressing confidence that the school will top in this year’s exams across the Siaya County.

“Any child is very important. Therefore as parents you must ensure your daughter or son gets the basic education if you want their future to be bright,” Akelo said.

The Director further challenged the government to improve the education sector by hiring more teachers to meet the huge demand across the country.

Akelo however commended the government for allowing children who have given birth to continue with their education terming it the greatest achievement in the education sector aimed in transforming lives of Kenyan child.

http://www.africanpress.me/ St. Mathews Sironyo Academy

http://www.africanpress.me/ St. Mathews Sironyo Academy

http://www.africanpress.me/ St. Mathews Sironyo Academy

http://www.africanpress.me/ St. Mathews Sironyo Academy

http://www.africanpress.me/ St. Mathews Sironyo Academy

http://www.africanpress.me/ St. Mathews Sironyo Academy

http://www.africanpress.me/ St. Mathews Sironyo Academy

http://www.africanpress.me/ St. Mathews Sironyo Academy

http://www.africanpress.me/ St. Mathews Sironyo Academy

http://www.africanpress.me/ St. Mathews Sironyo Academy

http://www.africanpress.me/ St. Mathews Sironyo Academy

http://www.africanpress.me/ St. Mathews Sironyo Academy

http://www.africanpress.me/ St. Mathews Sironyo Academy

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NB: Photos by Maurice Alal.