From initial exploratory understanding for our theory of change, we visited classrooms in rural central Kenya and Ukambani (Yatta Plateau) we witnessed that rural primary kids wanted to learn but routinely encountered barriers to excellent teachers. It seems the norm that the rural poor should not succeed but no one chooses where they are born hence every child should get an equal chance at qu.
The need is to reduce education inequalities between rural and urban school children by supporting them with the input that they need the most-teachers. Educate A Child group has identified eight barriers to education of which many Kenyan school children encounter on a daily basis. These barriers interfere with their right to education. Of all of them, little finance and challenging, rural geographies kept teachers away. Our innovation works by providing in-service training to already trained teachers and placing them in rural schools. This training promotes excellence in the teaching field, incentivizes them to serve in rural schools in order to give these children a fighting chance at changing their destinies through education. Their day-to-day work goes beyond teaching, it becomes a calling to change a generation of school-going children. Through technological partnerships, we receive monitoring and evaluation information via mobile SSD to our office in Nairobi.
Since starting, we have managed to establish links with headteachers to allow piloting of the project. Headteachers in these regions face a severe shortage of teachers as even those deployed by government decline to report due to the remoteness of these schools. I am sure that through confidence-building of our current partners, our innovation will spread via word-of-mouth to other schools.
Step 1: Really seek to understand the teacher training and hiring context of your country.
Step 2: Talk to all stakeholders across the board. All are valuable for you to create a full picture of the teacher and learner needs. Step 3: Don't make assumptions and try to replicate a foreign model without local contextualization.
Step 4: Believe in yourself! Get in contact ->MoE, teachers + soc entrep
