In March 2021 we undertook a baseline study in rural primary schools in Kajiado County, noted the challenges school going children were facing and started working on how the 3Es Experience organization was going to help solve these problems. The three schools we identified in Kajiado County included; Enatretoi, Samuli and Nembuya Primary schools.
3Es team meeting with head teacher and students of Samuli Primary School
3Es team meeting with teacher and students of Entaretoi Primary School
3Es team meeting with teacher and students of Nembuya Primary School
The challenges identified across the three school included:
(I) Lack of storybooks which limited their creativity in writing, promoted the lack of vocabulary and also caused poor reading skills.
(II) Limited mentorship where the students were not equipped with non academic skill sets such as goal setting, communication skills, teamwork, time management, leadership skills etc.
(III) Limited career options besides what the students familiarize themselves with such as boda boda riders, tour & track drivers etc.
(IV) Deforestation caused by cutting down trees for use as fuel.
(V) Lack of electricity in homes therefore limiting study timepast sunset for the pupils and the teachers were unable to plan and go through their scheme of work at night while at home.
3Es Experience launched the School Empowerment Program in June 2021. The program comprised various projects: African Child Book Campaign, My Grade My Trees and Mentorship.
Launch of the School Empowerment Program in Samuli Primary School
Launch of the School Empowerment Program in Entaretoi Primary School
Launch of the School Empowerment Program in Nembuya Primary School
Under the African Child Book Campaign,students in Grade 5, 6, 7 & 8 were provided with storybooks, geometric sets, stationery and other learning materials.
The students are required to read at least one story book a month and write a book report on the exercise books provided. In the report, students are required to identify new words and their meanings and the lessons they have learned from the story books. In addition to that, the students are required to include the title of the books read, the name of the authors of the respective books and a summary of the story in the book report.
The story books help to improve children's reading skills and be able to apply the learned vocabularies in their Compositions and Insha. This enables them to have a better command of English and Kiswahili languages and improve their general academic performance as they can understand questions in other subjects such as Mathematics, Science, Geography etc.Therefore, excelling in their academic performance.
The teachers were issued with solar light lanterns since they also lacked electricity in their homes.
In addition, the organization, through its team of several professionals, undertook a mentorship program with the pupils where they were taught communication skills and informed more on career choices.
Finally, through the My Grade My Trees program, the pupils were able to plant trees behind their classrooms in a bid to preserve the environment and solve the deforestation problem the area was facing.
The launch of the school empowerment program in the three primary schools was a success as noted in the monitoring sessions.