Busia: The Samburu Girls Foundation has launched an ambitious educational program to ensure there is 100 percent enrollment of students, retention and transition to secondary education in Samburu County. The program, dubbed Nabulaa Accelerator Learning Program (NALP), targets out-of-school children between 10 and 14 years old and will be rolled out in six wards in Samburu County, aiming to engage 500 students per year.
According to Kenya News Agency, a Programs Officer at the Samburu Girls Foundation, Mercy Wanderi, highlighted the unique challenges faced by Samburu County which necessitate an accelerated education program. She noted that 40 percent of children aged 6 to 17 years are currently out of school. The Kenya Demographic Health Survey (KDHS) 2022 attributes this high rate of out-of-school children to cultural barriers and gender inequalities, including child marriage at 31.9 percent, teenage pregnancies at 50 percent, and a 75.6 percent prevalence of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
Boys in the region often face herding responsibilities, with some being groomed into toxic moranism, further contributing to the education gap. Poverty, climate change, insecurity, and minimal parental support also disrupt school attendance, as parents often do not recognize the value of education.
Wanderi explained that most children in Samburu County enroll in school between the ages of 10 and 12. However, the education ministry lacks guidelines for accelerated learning, resulting in older students being placed in pre-primary classes alongside much younger children. The NALP offers a targeted approach, allowing students to complete the coursework of pre-primary levels and the first two grades within a year, enabling them to transition into mainstream schools more swiftly. This approach reduces the typical six years of primary education to just four years for these students.
For the past eight years, the Samburu Girls Foundation has been piloting the NALP in collaboration with the Ministry of Education. The program is anchored under the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC), and upon acquiring foundational literacy and numerical skills, girls over 15 years old can transition to vocational training or receive seed capital for small-scale business ventures.
The NALP will consist of 70 percent girls and 30 percent boys, operating within public primary schools under the direction of the Ministry of Education. Teachers will be appointed with guidance from the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and the schools’ Board of Management. Additionally, the feeding program will be supported by the Samburu county government and the MOE school feeding program.
The Nabulaa Accelerator Learning Program has been validated by the Samburu educational stakeholders Technical Working Group (TWG) ahead of its projected rollout.
