Our Focus School Program
In our first full year (2007) we accepted children into our program, but kept them in their current school. As a result, by the end of the year, we had 180 children in more than 40 schools. There were many disadvantages to this approach:
We must pay school fees and buy uniforms for each of the schools
We must build relationships with school administrators in each school
We hoped to influence school quality, but with our efforts so dissipated this was clearly impossible
An important tenet of our work is to measure our academic results but by working with so many schools we were unable to achieve this goal
We have now implemented a new program of focusing on day schools selected for their academic excellence and/or their geographic location within Dagoretti. Boarding schools are chosen for the quality of their program and cost.
Primary Schools
Day Schools
We expect most of our students to attend day school. We have chosen four day schools geographically dispersed in the Dagoretti area as Focus Schools. These are Nelson Mandela Academy, The Jagiet School Schools (two campuses) and Ngando Preparatory. More information is available on each school (see bar at left).
Boarding Schools
Primary boarding schools are common in Kenya. Children from all walks of life attend them for a variety of reasons. Our top performing students will have a better chance to gain entrance to strong secondary schools if they attend boarding schools (which provide a more intense and controlled learning environment) in 7th and 8th grades. Although one of our criteria is to admit children who are in a stable family environment, sometimes their situation changes and they find themselves in an untenable position due to violence or neglect. In these cases it is desirable to send them to boarding school. We have chosen GSU as our focus primary boarding school. Boarding schools cost an incremental $42.00 monthly, or $105 a month total. This is funded by the sponsor or from our Scholarship Fund.
Secondary Boarding Schools and Higher Education
- Secondary schools (high schools) are typically boarding schools and funds will be needed to supplement the $63.00 monthly sponsorship if the U.S. sponsor does not choose to fund the extra cost ($42.00 incremental or $105 total monthly). We have selected the Makuri Girls School as a focus school for our high school girls. We have yet to select a focus school for our high school boys.
There are three types of high school in Kenya – national, provincial and district. National high schools are reserved for those students receiving the highest scores – typically over 350. Students who receive passing marks (i.e. 220 in 2009 to 350) are able to attend provincial high schools. Students receiving marks as low as 175 can attend district high schools. Below that, students typically continue their education with trade or technical training.
- Post-secondary education (college, university or technical schools) will also require scholarship funds. We are committed to educating the children in our program until they are employable. This means attending technical school, college or university. Funds in excess of the sponsorship fee will be needed to support children in these post-secondary schools.