Many Challenges Plague Primary Education in Nairobi Slums

A visit to primary schools in Korogocho slums by the city Director of Education Mr. Joseph Musaba exposed the adverse conditions under which education takes place within Korogocho slums, which is one of the many slum settlements in Nairobi. Overcrowded classes, dilapidated buildings, understaffed schools, poorly paid teachers, unhygienic learning environment and few or no text books at all form part of the myriad challenges in these schools.

Ms. Osnat Keidar (left)  ,Dr. Moses Ngware  (right ) of APHRC and the City Director of Education, Mr. Joseph Musaba (center) take a walk in Korogocho slums during the directors' visit to the primary schools in the area	The City Director of education Mr. Musaba inspects one of the classrooms at Ngunyumu primary school in Korogocho. Most of the classes are very overcrowded

The visit by the Director which took place on the 21^st September was facilitated by APHRC's health Promoting Schools (HPS) programme which has been involved in efforts to promote and improve the capacity of schools in the slum to provide quality education using personal hygiene as an entry point. The project schools include 2  formal primary schools and 9 informal primary schools, but while both sets schools in the slums share the same predicament, the learning conditions in most of the informal schools is most appalling.

Pastor Joel is the manager of Jambo toto informal school testifies to these challenges.”The challenges of running an informal school in these settings are numerous, but because we don't have any other option we have to get on with it. The classes are mostly cramped up and because we have very little space available the pupils don't even have playgrounds like in other formal schools. Our situation is even more awkward because we don't have enough books for learning and to make matters worse, the government still doesn't offer us free primary education support funds. The teachers who work from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm take home as little as 3,000 Kshs. Per month because this is all we can afford to pay them under these circumstances. It's is therefore very difficult for us to compete on a fair footing with other better funded schools which have ample books and resources”.

The door to one of the classrooms at Jambo Toto informal school. Poor infrastructure remains a big challenge for the informal schools in Korogocho	Education in adversity: A teacher at Jambo Toto informal school carries on with teaching despite the several challenges facing teachers in the informal schools

The growth and popularity of Informal schools in the slums started in the mid 90's  due to the inability of many parents to pay the high school fee charged in the formal schools after the government introduced the cost sharing policy in the late 80's . Most of the parents in the slum therefore opted for privately owned schools where they could afford to pay the tuition fee with ease .Some of the informal schools charge 600 Kshs. per term without putting any restrictions on school uniform and tuition charges as is the norm in the formal schools. The introduction of the Free Primary Education Policy didn't change much either because parents still had to meet other costs like school uniforms and buy text books, so contrary to expectations the number of informal schools in the slum increased. For the formal schools, Free Primary education policy presented a challenge of numbers where classes are overcrowded with pupils therefore curtailing the effectiveness of with which a teacher can impart knowledge to students. The high number of students in the schools also ends up putting a lot of pressure on the limited resources like books, desks as well as vital sanitation resources like toilets.

While addressing a meeting of all the teachers from the formal and the informal primary schools at Daniel Comboni primary school. The Director lauded the positive attitude with which the teachers were meeting the challenges of teaching under such difficult circumstances posed by the slum setting. Noting that the experience of the visit to both the formal and the informal schools was an rude awakening call that He and his officers will strive to improve. He also thanked APHRC and its partner in the HPS programme UN-Habitat for the work that they have continuously carried out in the community since 2008 and urged them to continue .Since the inception of the HPS programme by Osnat Keidar in Korogocho 11 primary schools (both formal and informal) have received connection of water, water tanks for water storage, hand washing facilities, construction and renovation of sanitation blocks book donations, water tanks for rainwater harvesting sanitary towel donations ,food donations as well as kitchen construction in support of the school feeding programme as well as capacity building activities in schools and community. A sanitation center which has 6 toilets and 2 bathrooms has also been put up in the community to promote hygienic practices and sanitation within the community.

Health tips: The City Education Director looks at some of the health messages being printed on the walls under the HPS programme on the walls to the toilets. Every toilet is also fitted with a hand washing point to ensure that pupils can access hand washing points with ease.	Promoting handwashing: Leaky tins placed strategically at the entrance of each class as part of the HPS initiative to encourage the hand washing culture among the pupils