Help Gatoto School feed & educate Nairobi students

Gatoto has closed for Easter holidays. When it reopens to a new school year in late April, there will be a difference: the rising 6th grade students will become the first grade to be educated under Kenya’s new nationwide Competency Based Curriculum. 

The “CBC” is generating great excitement for giving teachers more flexibility and freeing them from teaching to a test.  That’s quite a change for Kenyan schools and students whose success historically was dependent only on performance in a narrow and high-stakes test in the 4th and 8th grades. The new curriculum puts more value on “competency” - combining the development of skills and knowledge with practice to apply what is learned to real life situations.

Gatoto’s Gideon Ndambuki calls it "an improvement,” but points out “for every lesson, there is an update.”  Much work will go into syllabus implementation, teacher training, and the many specific requirements for teaching the “practicals.”   

Gatoto’s biggest challenge is that this improved education comes with a hefty price.  Once again, the school’s status as a Community School in an unincorporated settlement means the continued absence of any government support.  So the government requirement for coursebooks and many supplementary teaching materials is an unfunded mandate. Books can last many years and are often shared by multiple students, but the cost will amount to more than $20,000 -  a really difficult additional  expense in an already financially strapped year.  Any help with donations to holistically educate our Gatoto kids would be greatly welcomed and appreciated!