Rongai Primary School – Satellite School in Nali Muru
The Teacher’s concern
On the last day of the school year, 1st December 2006, I spent some minutes with the satellite school’s only teacher, Mwalimu Saikieli John Kowero, who lives in the village of Rongai, 5 kilometres from the Nali Muru Village. He has not yet moved to Nali Muru because there are no facilities put in place for the teachers, meaning that the government has not provided housing for the teachers. We sat down to have a mind-blowing conversation about the satellite school and its problems. Many things need to change at this school; here are the critical issues, according to the Mwalimu (teacher).
· Many parents sometimes do not see the need to enroll their children in nursery school for a number of reasons; while some parents don’t want their five- and six- year olds to walk distances to get to the nearest nursery school, which is this satellite school in Nali Muru, others do not see the importance of education at this level. As a result, parents enroll their children in Class One once they reach the minimum age of seven. This becomes very difficult for the teacher because the Class One students are now a mix of those who attended nursery school and those that did not. Those that did usually perform well and pass their examinations to enter Class Two. Those that did not attend nursery school find Class One too difficult and often find themselves repeating Class One; they find themselves not up to standard with those students that attended nursery school. Parents need to understand the importance of their children’s education and enroll them in nursery school as soon as possible. Alternative methods to ensure all eligible nursery school students make it to school need to be placed and a sense of security needs to be provided to the parents and these young students who have to walk long distances to arrive in school. Class One began with 107 students, at the end only 90 were left; many were dismissed because they failed to perform well in Class One.
· The students of the satellite school, who come from villages outside of Nali Muru, walk for long distances just to get to school every single weekday. It does not matter if it is raining or if it is too hot, they have to come to school. Because many of them live in poor conditions, they cannot afford proper shoes and clean uniform. Many of the children own one or two pair of shoes and they wear them day in day out, regardless of the weather. This affects their ability to concentrate. A student may arrive to school soaking wet and unclean. There are no facilities at school for them to change into other uniforms or change shoes.
· Typically, their home environment is not the best. Many of the students come to school hungry and find it hard to concentrate and listen to what the teacher is teaching. In many cases, the students may fall asleep in class. If the school had a facility where meals were provided to the students, this issue would be diminished.
· The desks, provided by the responsible government section, need modifications. The school is equipped with desks designed for older students, from Class Five onwards. The young nursery school children as well as the Class One students are short and they often need to stand up, rather than sit on their desks, to take notes. The desks do not consider the age, size and height of the pupils. As well, there are too many students sitting on the same desk. This affects their concentration and learning ability because of the lack of ample space to open one’s notebook and writing book. As with many children, sharing may lead to petty small arguments.
· There is a shortage of school supplies, such as pens and pencils. The children lose their pencils quite often and because some parents don’t see the need of education, they chose not to invest in the fourth, fifth and six pencils. As the teacher says, “the government is doing a good job giving us certain facilities, such as notebooks, more still needs to be done.” It remains difficult teaching without supplies. For example, the lack of colour pencil makes it difficult for the teacher to teach students all colours. The school needs more supplies and toys to teach and keep the children in the classroom
· The teaching venue the school uses, which is the church building of the Nali Muru church, is not appropriate for teaching. Because it is a church, the teacher and students cannot write on the wooden walls, let alone add posters and any visual learning materials. The teacher does not have a proper blackboard and not enough chalk to teach the students with. With merely one small blackboard, the teacher has to erase the work not long after writing on it so that he can add more. The slow students are disadvantaged here because they do not have enough time to copy their notes from the board.
· The class has no cupboards and storage room for the teacher and for the pupils. As a result, the teacher stores the textbooks at someone’s house in the Nali Muru village. When it rains, for example, he often finds the books wet because they are not taken care of. As well, sometimes the pupils bring soaking wet books to school if they are caught in the rain on their way from and to school.
· Because the building they use as a classroom lacks electricity, the students cannot enjoy any electricity. If it rains too hard and it becomes dark and cloudy, the pupils have to work with in these conditions.
· There is no close by water supply. If the children need to drink water or to wash themselves, they have to walk to the nearest water supply inside the village. This is the only water supply in the village.
· The teacher does not have his own office and therefore lacks privacy. For instance, if a parent comes to school talk to him about his or her child’s progress, they have to talk to the children in public. The teacher rarely leaves the classroom because he does not have an assistant teacher to help him with the teaching.
· There is also the issue of safety; the children do not have their own playground. They play in insecure places and it is therefore easy for the children to get injured if they are not careful.
· There is no healthcare or health centre for the students. If a student becomes ill, the teacher may find himself dismissing the students and walking to the nearby village to get medical attention. Because there is a shortage of teachers, he does not have a choice but to do this.
· Teaching 90 Class One students at once is a tedious task; this group should be divided to allow for better teaching practices and more one-on-one teacher-student time. But because they do not have enough classrooms, this becomes difficult.