“Are our Children Learning?” The Blue Pill on Kenyan Education

  “Are our Children Learning?” The Blue Pill on Kenyan Education

“You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”- Morpheus

To some, the Uwezo Kenya findings are little more than another damning office report written by people who do not teach. However, such distinct disparities between our imagined ideal and educational realities are springing up that we cannot afford to ignore them. Let’s take a second look at this report, and use it to improve what we give our children as education.

What exactly did the report find?
-11% of class eight children cannot do class two level division work.

-50% Classes Four and Five children can’t comprehend stories written for class two pupils.

-Teacher absenteeism is still high as in a day an average of 10% of the teachers are not in school with Narok leading with 21% and Nairobi coming second with 17%
-The average number of pupils in classes one to eight is 64, which is higher than the 40 recommended by the Ministry of Education.

-Private schools do more teaching and offer better learning than public schools

-Children in public schools also continue to lack basic facilities, including toilets, clean drinking water and sanitary towels, with only four out of 10 schools providing sanitary towels to the young ladies.

(Please read more from this report on: www.uwezo.net)

Basically, according to this report, the majority of our school going children is not getting basic literacy and numeracy competencies at the right age, in the right classes.

Where do you come in?

“Knowledge is Power” is what we are often told. However, the seed of knowledge does not magically germinate into some super-power tree. It has to be planted within the right environment and watered with hard work. Knowledge becomes power only when you leverage it to change the situation.
In the Matrix (1999), one of my favorite movies, Neo faced a similar choice: to take the blue pill and continue living in a make-believe world designed to imprison him, or to take the red pill and try change the world.  He chose to act against the mediocrity.
In Kenya- our blue pill is inaction. We can choose to live with a status quo where our schools are suffering. We can choose to believe that because we are powerless, or we have better things to do, we should leave all the work of saving the situation to policy makers and teachers. However, is this all we can and should do?

What would it take to help?

To help the students who are lagging behind, we need courageous, selfless people who will take the red pill. A red pill-taker will volunteer to tutor the kids, and work one-on-one with them till their grades improve. A red pill volunteer will step in to cover for teachers’ absences, and a red pill school will hold teachers accountable for every hour of learning they waste with their absence. A red pill volunteer can help grade class work, homework and share classroom responsibilities with the teacher. The red pill, simply put, is a choice to help.

What will happen when I choose the red pill?

You will meet and work with other passionate, driven young people who are committed to making a difference in the education sector. You will have fun, and grow a vibrant, enriching environment. You will learn how to share life and wisdom with young students in schools in rural and slum areas. You will have the satisfaction of having made a difference. Are you ready to join PACE and take the red pill? https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDNwaEtSQ1pVRHV4Rm5aVGQwcUxIZGc6MA#gid=0

Learn more about us:
http://www.pacekenya.or.ke/ or our blog: http://pacemakingadifference.blogspot.com/