School bag, notebooks, pencil case, pens, pencils, rulers, erasers... Parents of school-aged children in Slovakia often have to dig deeper into their wallets at the end of the holidays. However, the fact that basic education is necessary and mandatory is so commonplace for most that they don't even notice it. Usually until the child asks again: "And why do I have to go to school?" Children in Kenya are not required to go to school. Even if they all wanted to, the state still does not have enough schools to accommodate them. It does not have enough classrooms, but also paid qualified teachers. Even so - compared to some other African countries, Kenya is one step ahead in the area of ​​basic education. Since 2003, primary education has been free there. The government's decision to abolish primary school fees caused a small revolution - 7.4 million children entered school in the 2004 school year, 1.5 million more than the year before. There were more children, especially from poorer families, who were still able to afford the expenses for school uniforms and the most basic school supplies.

However, this means a new onslaught for schools. They are overcrowded, they don't have enough buildings, equipment, or teachers. There are often 80 to 100 children per teacher in a class. The problem is especially in slums - the growing poor districts of big cities. In the school building, which is one classroom, the children are crowded together so that they cannot write properly. It is almost impossible for a teacher to give children more individual attention with such a large number.

The adoption of the law on free access to children's basic education also had a great impact on non-governmental and church organizations. One of the main Kenyan project partners of the eRko association – Mukuru Promotion Centre, which is managed by the Sisters of Mercy in the Mukuru slum, tried to reorient itself and began to cooperate more with the government.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the project built and built six primary schools right among the narrow streets of the Mukuru slum in the capital, Nairobi. Today, their educational program is one of the largest and best known in Mukuru slum. Thanks to him, thousands of children got into schools at a time when many were roaming the streets.

After the adoption of the new law, the schools were registered as state schools and a large part of the teachers are paid from the basic education budget. This made it possible to further expand the project plans - classes for lagging students, adult education were added, the craft center was expanded for those who cannot continue to secondary school after finishing primary school.

The project in the years 2008-2011 is co-financed by the European Union and is aimed more broadly, not only at improving the quality of basic education.

In 2011, 5,500 children should attend primary schools in the Mukuru slum. As part of the project, two new school buildings have already been built. The goal is also to increase the number of teachers so that there are less than 40 students per teacher in the classroom. They therefore employed 23 additional teachers as part of the project. The educational program also includes children who require special attention. Within each school, auxiliary classes were created for 10-15 children with learning disabilities, as well as those who signed up for school later than regular first-graders. Otherwise, children should receive the basics of reading and writing in ten new preschool classes.

As part of the project, they also created a curriculum for a basic course in reading, writing, arithmetic, health sciences and a small business course. The courses are intended for 200 parents per year. Progress can also be seen in this area. "It's encouraging when you see adults who no longer have to sign with their fingerprints and know how to fill out the forms needed to open a bank account," says Daniela Petrášová, eRka project coordinator who worked in Nairobi for five years.

Since the children in the slums live in socially weak conditions, they receive lunches at school through the UN World Food Program. Social workers are also employed at the schools, who try to solve problems associated with truancy and social problems.

One of the main goals of the education program in the Mukuru slum is for more than half of the primary school graduates to pass the state final exams so that they have a chance to continue their studies at secondary school. Allowing children to go to school is not enough in itself.

Source: http://www.dobranovina.sk

The article was published in the Development Aid - Fall 2010 newsletter. It is published by Platforma mimovládnych rozvojových organizácií (MVRO), which is an association of legal entities - an umbrella organization of 31 (23 regular members and 8 observers) Slovak non-governmental organizations that deal mainly with foreign development and humanitarian aid.