Youth, Skills and Work: Why we need contextualized education

This post comes from Grace Mwaura, a student at Oxford University who previously worked for the Healthy Learning Programme. Grace shares her insights on Youth Skills and Work: Why we need contextualized education.
Enjoy!

Youth, Skills and Work: Why we need contextualized education

By Grace Mwaura 

Introduction

At a conference on young people, farming and food in Africa, I was glad to discuss with leading researchers and practitioners in the field of young people and agriculture in Africa, the subject of education and training as a priority for the agrifood-youth nexus. Thinking of Youth, Skills and Work, I have no better words to explain why I stress contextualized education and training, than to refer to my conversations and paper[i] at the conference and a recently published blog by the New Agriculturalist and few blogs i have previously written.

For the purpose of this blog, I will however focus on the overall workforce in Africa: demographic dividend[ii] and not only the agrifood sector. I challenge the emerging notion that agrifood sector in Africa presents major opportunities to solve the pre-conceived and framed youth challenge of unemployment. Indeed, as I will show through education and training, the biggest challenge is in the structures of preparing the workforce for whatever socio-economic sector.

Read on here 

Healthy Learning Programme is moulding young responsible kenyans!

This blog was written by a guest blogger, Dustin Homan, after visiting 10 Healthy Learning schools.  Dustin is a student at The Ohio State University in the United States studying agricultural education and this is his first trip to Africa.

Before I even knew her name, she gave me ‘faith’ in Kenya’s future.  Faith Glory, a student at Naro Moru Primary, hopes to become a social worker like her mother someday. 

Even though her future may not be involved with agriculture, she still wants to plant trees to beautify nature, make papers, provide firewood and construct a home.  She has also acted out drama and recited poems about trees to educate other people.

She has used what she has seen in her school’s Healthy Learning projects to start her own projects at home.  She has planted fruit trees with her mother and planted a 2-acre garden of vegetables, including cabbages, onions, kales and carrots.  She plans to sell the vegetables when they mature and to use the income to help her family and the poor.

Faith (left) and Lucky (right) pupils at Naromoru Primary with Dustin (center) during a visit to the school

Faith loves nature and animals.  Her favorite story is “The Little Mermaid” because it helps her appreciate the beauty of nature and the many different types of wild animals.  She is also a member of the Environment and Wildlife Clubs, where she helps clean outside of the school compound when informing people about the importance of keeping the environment clean.

I first noticed him when he bravely volunteered to lead over 75 of his fellow pupils in a song about agroforestry.  Later, I had an opportunity to talk with an inspiring Kaliluni Primary student about how Healthy Learning has helped him and his family. 

Jefferson, an upper primary student, wants to become a journalist when he grows up to educate people around the world about agroforestry and its benefits.  When he grows up, he plans to grow healthy fruit trees and vegetables and he will not stop using agroforestry until he is very old.  

Pupils at Kaliluni Primary School spell out OHIO. Jefferson is 3rd from the left.

He thinks his school’s Healthy Learning project on agroforestry is so successful because the school receives money, fruit and good health from it.  The project has also helped Jefferson learn how to control soil erosion, apply fertilizers and pesticides, provide food for his family and eat healthy meals.  

A young entrepreneur, Jefferson buys his own seed from nearby Machakos and grows vegetables, tree seedlings and flowers to beautify his home and to earn an income.  He uses the money he receives from selling his produce to pay for school equipment like books and lab sets.  

These are just two examples of over 700 amazing students I had the opportunity to meet while I visited primary schools across Kenya.  Combined with the power of the Healthy Learning Program, these students will someday help alleviate hunger and restore the environment of this country, and the world.

Forum to raise leaders to tackle Africa’s food crisis

Forum to raise leaders to tackle Africa’s food crisis

Successful school poultry project in a pastoralist community

Nkoile Primary School is located in Kajiado Central district, a mainly pastoralist community. This is a mixed day primary school with a total enrolment of 308 pupils - 169 boys and 139 girls according to term II 2011 figures.




School Motto

Nkoile Primary School pupils on their way home from school

Start of Healthy Learning
The school started implementing the Healthy Learning programme in 2008. Major activities being undertaken include a school kitchen garden and poultry project. The school is also involved in environmental conservation activities including tree planting.

In early 2010, the school purchased 100 layers for a start. The school has created a useful partnership with the Ministry of  Livestock who provide technical advise on poultry rearing. Officers from this ministry train teachers and pupils on how to take care of the chickens. Towards the end of 2010, the school purchased an additional 150 chicks bringing the total number of layers to 250.

The first lot of poultry is already  laying eggs which the school sells locally. The money raised is used to further sustain the project with the aim of supplementing and sustaining the government supported home grown school meals programme.

Due to the delicate nature of the poultry project, the school's 4k club  is directly responsible for running it. The pupils feed the layers and clean the troughs among other tasks. This is done under the direction of the club patron.

Linking the project to the curriculum
In an attempt to make learning more practical and experiential, some teachers utilise the poultry project in teaching certain subjects in the classroom. In one instance, an English teacher used the project to teach tenses in English grammar.

Poultry project

Linking the project to the curriculum

Challenges
Despite the successes mentioned above, the school has encountered certain challenges during project implementation. Firstly the local community despise poultry and poultry products and many do not consume them.  The community attach a lot of value to cattle and these are seen as a status symbol. The school however managed to convince the community on why they should embrace poultry rearing. As a result of the school successfully implementing this project and earning some income from it, the attitude of the local community is slowly changing. The parents now realise that they can earn an income from poultry and even consume poultry products rather than depend on livestock which can be a let down especially during the dry season.

A second challenge concerns how to sustain the project especially with the ever rising cost of feeds.

Hosting visitors at the school
Irrespective of the challenges faced, the school has managed to successfully implement the project at least for the past one year. Subsequently, neighbouring schools have visited in an attempt to learn about the project. Indeed a nearby school has also started rearing poultry! Only recently (5th May 2011), the school hosted delegates from several countries who were in Kenya to attend the Global Child Nutrition Forum. The aim of the forum was linking  school feeding with agriculture development to maximise food security. School visits were therefore aimed to familiarise delegates with various models contributing to sustaining of the school feeding programme.

In future, Nkoile Primary Shool plans to venture into rearing of indigenous chickens.

Global Child Nutrition Forum participants to visit Healthy Learning schools!

Delegates invited to Kenya for the Global Child Nutrition Forum to be held  between the 2nd - 7th of May 2011 will get an opportunity to visit four schools in Kenya, two of which are implementing Healthy Learning.

The theme for this year's forum is scaling up sustainability: Linking  school feeding with agricultural development to maximize food security.

Primary Boys Boarding school (PBS) and Nkoile Primary school are both under the government sponsored home grown school meals programme. These schools, located in Kajiado Central district, an arid and semi arid area in Kenya are also implementing the Healthy Learning Programme and are doing quite well.

PBS, as this school is commonly known is a boys boarding primary school that caters for the needs of special children. The school is implementing various Healthy Learning projects among them steers fattening, environmental conservation through tree planting and a kitchen garden. All these projects aim at sustaining the school meals programme while equipping the children and surrounding community with crucial life skills.  Furthermore, school projects are linked to the curriculum. Teachers utilize the school projects to teach various concepts in the classroom making learning experiential and practical.

PBS's steers fattening project is quite attractive to the local pastoralist (Maasai) community. Maasai's attach a lot of value to cattle. Subsequently, the level of community participation in maintaining the project is quite high.  This is the most viable project considering that the area is mostly dry meaning crop growing may not be viable. Currently, the school has 9 steers which are ready for sale. These were bought at Ksh 15,000/- ($ 188) per steer. At the current market price, each steer is likely to be sold at Ksh 30,000/- ($375) which is twice its buying price! The profit accrued will be used to purchase more steers ultimately sustaining the current school meals programme.

 

Primary Boys steers




Entrance to Primary Boys Boarding School

 According to the head teacher of the school Mr. Kaesha, pupils and the surrounding community are learning crucial life skills vital in improving the quality of life. The maasai community seldom sell their animals at the right time and most times end up loosing herds of cattle during periods of extreme drought. It is expected that the community will learn from the school business skills on steers fattening.

PBS is also involved in environmental conservation. The school has planted several species of trees and flowers to beautify the environment. The school purchased an energy saving stove that utilises less firewood when preparing school meals. Before the acquisition of an energy saving jiko, a total of ksh 72,000/- ($ 900) would be used to purchase 12 lorries of firewood each school term. Currently, the school has cut down fuel consumption by half spending Ksh 36,000/- ( $450) for 6 lorries of firewood each school term.

Energy saving stoves at PBS

Another interesting aspect to look out for while at PBS are the numerous talking walls (murals) with educative messages. These aid the pupils to remember what is taught in class as they perform activities outside the classroom.




A message to remind pupils to always maintain clean hands




A talking wall at PBS reinforcing a science topic taught in class

 Well now you know a bit about PBS, in the next post we will focus on Nkoile Primary School which is implementing another interesting Healthy Learning project.

Benefits of Healthy Learning: A pupil's perspective!

Emmanuel Mutiso author of winning essay

In the year 2010, beneficiaries of the Healthy Learning Programme (pupils) in 30 primary schools wrote essays on "How you have benefited from the Healthy Learning Programme since it started in your school". Master Emmanuel Mutiso, a standard 7 pupil in Katelembo Primary School - Machakos emerged the winner.

Below is an extract from the winning essay:



" ...  The healthy learning programme has helped me to learn different methods of water harvesting. At home, i have started harvesting underground water by the use of underground gutters and also on roofs.

In keeping water safe for drinking, i have known different methods of making water safe for drinking. First, i boil the water to kill the germs or even add chemicals. By doing this i dont get water borne diseases which are deadly.

The healthy learning programme has helped me know different methods of planting trees and by that i have planted many trees at home. Trees are very important to our environment for example they purify the air, act as windbreakers and by this many roofs are not carried away by wind, they hold the soil firmly hence reduce soil erosion, they also act as shade when their is too much sun and lastly they act as habitat for birds and small animals.

I have started my own orchard where i plant fruits like mangoes, lemons, oranges, pawpaws, sweet melons, guavas and avocadoes, sometimes i take them to the market and sell them at very good prices. I use the money to buy fertilisers and sprays so that i can boost the productivity of my orchard.

Something i have noticed in healthy learning and i had not practised before is the kitchen garden and i am about to start it as soon as i gather all the requirements.

Lastly, i would like to thank the healthy learning programme teachers for the benefits and profit which i and other people have got from the programme which has greatly changed our day to day living standards. Our hygiene has also improved than before the programme. When i grow up, i would like to be a healthy learning educator "

Download winning essay Here

Healthy Learning on the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation radio

Geoffrey Onditi from the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation recently visited Naromoru Primary School in Kajiado North district in January 2011 to speak to programme beneficiaries on the impact of Healthy Learning. These interviews were aired on the KBC English Service radio on 15th January 2011.

Those interviewed included the headteacher of the school, some pupils and the Quality Assurance and Standards Officer of Kajiado North district. Listen to what they had to say by clicking on the above heading: Healthy Learning on Kenya Broadcasting Corporation radio.