Student Movement for Real Change

Mwijo Secondary School - Kenya

Education Problem

Most schools in Kayafungo are short of enough classrooms or desks for their students. Students learn to write by practicing letters with sticks in the sand. Classes are taught under trees and pen and paper is a rarity. Children that do

go to school sit on stones instead of chairs in many cases.

Secondary school is not option. In Kayafungo, there are two secondary schools but both require boarding and the fees that are too high for most

pupils. With only an eighth grade education, children finish school and return to work on the farm or live a life without employment

opportunities.

When schools are lucky to be sheltered, the buildings are often in disrepair. Here the teacher writes on the cement wall rather than a proper blackboard

to teach introductory mathematics.

In February 2009, SMRC built a classroom and teacher’s office to initiate the development of Mwijo Secondary Day School.

Ted Couch, deputy project director, shows off the beginning of school construction.

Before SMRC began working in Kayafungo, the location did not have a non-boarding secondary school. Now they have a new school in the

community.