The Schools of Najile

Najile is one of the most blessed Maasai communities in terms of education.  Within a kilometer or two of our house are a primary school and two secondary schools, one for boys and one for girls.  Many communities have no schools at all, and certainly no secondary schools.  Go to -1.210153, 36.474058 and you'll see the Najile Primary School. The Najile primary school is home to about 350 students, ranging from baby class to standard 8.  Najile primary does face a variety of challenges, however.  Class sizes are much too large with only 8 teachers serving the 350 students.  The school has no electricity and only has access to computers thanks to a project paid by outsiders providing computers and solar panels. Teacher absenteeism also regularly leaves multiple classes without supervision, minimizing the amount of time students have to prepare for their exams.

In Kenya, after standard 8, a nationalized exam is administered to place students in secondary school.  Like university in the US, 8th grade students need to apply to secondary schools and get in based almost solely on their test scores.  Since schools like Najile primary have limited access to government funding, many students are left severely under-prepared for the exam, administered in their third language, English. 

Those Najile students lucky enough to make it into secondary school often choose Najile boys school or Ewuaso girls school.  Go to -1.207935, 36.475273 to see the boys school just to the northeast of the primary school.  Continue on to your north, northwest to -1.198819, 36.473672 to find the newly opened Ewuaso girls school.  Both secondary schools are boarding schools and require students to pay significant school fees.  While primary school is technically free, (though in practice many charges still creep up), secondary school fees are one of the major financial stressors on local families, requiring the equivalent of a cow to be sold for each term (3 per year).  Considering families of 30 or more children, this is a major problem. 

A final note about Ewuaso girls school:  this school was recently completed by Compassion International, a Christian NGO that connects international sponsors to needy students.  Compassion has a large center next to the Najile Church and decided to build a girls secondary school for the community.  This year was the first to serve all 4 years of secondary school and provides hope for many girls who previously had only limited educational opportunities. 

While many books could be written about the problems surrounding education from a Maasai perspective, I hope this short overview has helped you picture what school looks like for our neighbors.