Primary School Headmasters’ Meeting Highlights Big Changes in Kenyan Education System

Sandy and Stacey met with the Primary Education Headmasters of the Kopanga and Giribe Schools. This group of headmasters makes up the local Kenyan Education Committee that makes recommendations to the P4P Education Committee to determine which students should receive P4P Education scholarships. Five of the six headmasters were able to attend the meeting and shared a lot of interesting information.

We learned that changes are happening in the Kenya school system with big impacts.

The Kenyan government is implementing a “Comprehensive Base Curriculum” (CBC), and it was the center of discussion at the P4P meeting with the headmasters.

The national government has adopted a plan that requires significant changes. The changes will provide additional funds, but requires not only additional infrastructure, but also requires teachers to have higher teaching credentials. The requirements exceed what is available at their schools, so the headmasters were dealing with something of a catastrophe in their schools at the time of our visit.

The day of the meeting happened to be the first day of school for students who are entering 7th grade. But, because the schools did not have the required teachers, books and buildings, there was nowhere for the youngsters to go.

In addition, there is some confusion around new tuition and fees. P4P will continue to monitor the rollout of the new program, and how it impacts P4P scholarship students. In the meantime, headmasters expressed their gratitude for the P4P scholarships that allow so many youngsters to continue their education.