Title:
'Non-Formal' Schools Aim to Fill Need in Kenya's
Slums
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Technology Report.
See text below
Text:
In two thousand three, the government of Kenya
established a program of free primary education for
all children. But there are not enough public
schools for all the children who live in the crowded
slums of Nairobi. Instead, some of these children
attend what are known as non-formal or informal
schools. These are supported by communities,
religious groups and other organizations.
Informal schools use the national curriculum taught
in public schools. But they operate largely with
limited resources and without trained teachers.
Education activists say the Ministry of Education
rarely inspects their teaching quality, lesson notes
or examination records. They say the presence of
informal schools means that Kenya has two levels of
education: One for children from the slums, another
for children from better conditions.
Activists say Kenya has at least one thousand six
hundred of these non-formal schools. Susan Munuhe is
an Education Ministry official. She says only about
two hundred informal schools across the country
receive money for materials under the free primary
education program.
She says one slum in Nairobi, Mathari, has only
about three public primary schools nearby. These can
serve two thousand children at most. But she says
the Mathari slum alone has more than three hundred
thousand children of school age.
Diana Atieno Tujuh volunteers as a teacher at the
Saint Christine's Community Center in the Kibera
slum, one of the largest in Africa. She says the
government has provided books for her school only
one time during the past few years. Many parents do
not have the money to buy books, so sometimes the
teachers pay for them.
She says many students are sleepy and unable to pay
attention in class because there is not enough food
for them at home. For the children at Saint
Christine's, the mid-day meal they are served might
be their only meal all day.
A government spokesman says the government is trying
to discourage informal schools. Alfred Mutua says
every child in Kenya has the ability to get the same
education. The government, he says, has never
rejected a child from a public school. He also says
the government is building more schools, but it will
take time.
And thats the VOA Special English Development
Report. Transcripts and podcasts of our reports are
at voaspecialenglish.com.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
