Naibor is a small town walking-distance from Daraja Academy. There’s not much there – the main road cuts right through a handful of small shops, churches, and restaurants. A secondary school opened in Naibor last March, but it is lacking.
The Naibor region
A few months ago, Daraja cofounder Jason Doherty was visiting Naibor Secondary School when teacher Richard Githaiga introduced himself. Richard loves teaching but recognizes the difficulty his school faces. Students from around the area – which is very rural – may walk three hours (ten kilometers) just to get to school. Unfortunately, in Kenya, secondary school is not free, and each student must pay a little less than $200 per year to attend. This money goes directly to paying teachers and buying what school supplies they can afford, but this fee is quite high for most families in the area, and Richard says this “is the most difficult part.”
Naibor Primary School
The school is waiting for government approval, at which point the Kenyan government should subsidize some of the school’s cost. If and when government money does come in, it should cover the cost of tuition, which exists to pay for meals, workers, a school cook, watchmen, and facilities. Right now, Naibor Secondary doesn’t actually have its own facilities, and is instead using those of Naibor Primary School.
Daraja is lucky to have its many amenities
When Jason met Richard, he offered to give him some old textbooks, which Richard happily accepted. Still, the school needs more than that – Richard explained that his students have never seen science equipment, like microscopes. They’re hoping government funds will supply some of these things, but it’s a slow process and could take a year or more to get government approval. “In the meantime they’re supposed to be learning but they don’t know how to do it,” explained Richard. “You’re showing them experiments in the book but you are not doing them.” In addition, the students are supposed to be learning English but with only three teachers there they don’t have the teaching capacity to teach English.
Daraja is located in the middle of the wilderness, near Naibor
The textbooks donated by Daraja will help – “Those books will do us a great deal.” Still, Naibor is a very poor area, and many of the students come from single mothers. Before Naibor Secondary started, some of the students had been out of school for three years, since there was no free secondary school in the area. Before, the only option for education would have been boarding school, which would be much too expensive for these families. Some of the freshmen at Naibor are already 18 years old, because they’ve been waiting so long to start their education. So far, Naibor has 26 students, only eight of whom are girls. The students are happy to be in school, but it’s reminders like these that show the importance of places like Daraja, where all students get to live and eat on campus, they all have access to adequate school supplies, and their families – all of which are low-or-no income – don’t have to worry about school fees. We hope Naibor Secondary School gets its government approval soon, and we hope to continue cultivating a relationship with them!
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