Supporting access to quality education in rural Kenya
In Kenya there are currently more than 1.2 million primary school children not in school. The hardest to reach include children living in pastoral and nomadic communities, and children with disabilities. ElectricAid is supporting 5 schools to participate in the “Every Girl in School” project to ensure girls reach a high-level of primary school education.
Many girls do not attend school if there is no food or water provided by the school as girls are expected to drop out or leave school to collect water at break time. This has a negative impact on their learning outcomes. The ‘Every Girl in School’ run by our partners, Aidlink, has empowered girls to attend schools that provide good quality facilities allowing them to focus on their education.
Following a grant of €11,352 from ElectricAid, schools in Kenya’s rural Turkana region now have accessible, gender and disability-friendly water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities including latrines and water tanks in schools. Students, teachers, and Boards of Management have also been trained to support a more child-friendly learning environment.
Access to water on site reduces the burden on girls who are normally tasked with collecting water and school feeding is benefiting children and their families as over 80% of children in Turkana are now dependant on school feeding as their only meal in a day.
The instillation of water tanks and handwashing stations a vital role in helping the schools achieve the UNICEF Child-Friendly school status.
Having water on site has removed the need for students to bring water to school each morning, or leave school to fetch water at break times, contributing to improved learning outcomes in the long term. The tanks provide water for the handwashing stations which contributes to improved hygiene standards among students and meets government mandated standard operating procedures post Covid 19.
One school patron reported that “Food made the difference between staying at home and going to school. When the school had food, all children attended school. When there was no food, some children dropped out”. Both water and food on site have contributed to a 30% increase in enrolment rates with student population across the 5 schools now standing at 3,480 children.
“Aidlink would like to extend our sincere thanks to ElectricAid for the generous grant for the water tanks, handwashing stations and school feeding. This project will make a lasting impact on the lives of these children and their communities who now have the opportunity to obtain a quality education and are empowered to fight for their rights.”
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