Rhino Scholarships: Education is Conservation

With sincere gratitude to supporters of Ol Pejeta's scholarship programme, whose continued kindness has enabled talented children in rural Kenya to access education. There are currently 207 part (one year) and full (four year) students aged 14 -17 enrolled in the programme, alongside two students at University and College.

Of the 150 students on full scholarships, 14 of them aged 17-19 took their examinations for their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education in December 2022. We are still awaiting the results from the schools of seven of these students, however of the results we did receive, all students scored C and above. These results are a fantastic achievement, which will enable them to apply for further education if they wish.

Women's mentorship is a critical component of the scholarship programme. Workshops occur continually throughout the year, covering topics such as study strategies that help improve school performance, potential challenges and how to overcome them, as well as how to handle girl-boy relationships. In March 2023, the education programme visited Kalalu Girls, St Jude Girls and Loise Nanyuki Girls schools to discuss these topics and help prepare young girls for their future.

Beyond scholarships, the programme continues to enhance students learning through the provision of technology and digital equipment. With inaccessibility to technology and/or lack of soft digital skills amongst the youth in Kenya, young people are hard-pressed to meet the emerging challenges of the 21st century. Limited government funding means that key equipment for digital learning is unavailable, and even if it were available, teacher training is needed to be able to use it. The programme addresses these needs directly via equipment provision and training. In the last few months, the education department has provided 80 notebook computers to four schools (20 to each school), 20 laptops to one library, and five African Ruggedized Education System (ARES) servers, five projectors and five mesh systems to the above schools and library. ARES is designed to operate in environments without any internet or reliable power, therefore providing a solution for the problem of education in rural communities with minimal resources. To ensure the ARES system is utilised correctly, 25 teachers were trained on how to use the tools and equipment.

Our team, and the students are so grateful for your kindness and generosity, which helps provide these children with access to education. We hope you can one day visit and see the impact of your incredible support. Thank you very much.