After working at Lake Victoria’s Rusinga Island as Christian missionaries for years, a few expatriates with Kenyan contacts established a private school in 1975 in Nairobi to offer education rooted in a Christian foundation.
They called it Rusinga and it is marking 50 years this year with a series of fetes.
According to the school, its growth embodies success when passion and vision are rolled out in faith.
And the faith in this context is akin to the story of the mustard seed in the Bible, which starts small but with consistent work through cycles of failure and success, grows into something big.
Head teacher Juma Nyamori said after establishing Rusinga Kindergarten, parents expressed interest and commitment to having their children continue with primary education based on Christian foundation.
This strong partnership led to the establishment of the secondary school and eventually A- level education.
Rusinga School progressively became a Christian international co-educational day school following British National Curriculum (BNC).
The Christian foundation of the school has been jealously guarded and maintained since its inception.
Nyamori said besides grounding children in christian values, the institution wants to build on the foundation to a tech future, explaining they are marking the jubilee celebration by turning it into a launch pad for the future.
The head teacher said the school is developing an innovation hub to support annual hackathons, interactive workshops and partnerships with institutions like the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development to complement the Competency-Based Curriculum rollout.
It is also designed to empower students in coding, robotics, programming and digital literacy, he said.
“The Rusinga Innovation Hub, which is our flagship project for our 50th Anniversary celebrations, will be a testament to our commitment to future-ready education,” he said.
The hub will aim to foster innovation through hands-on learning in coding, programming and robotics, and the school will now host the Annual Rusinga Hackathon, encouraging students to solve real-world problems.
“Celebrating 50 years signifies our enduring legacy of excellence and value-based education,” he said.
“Looking ahead, we are committed to sustainable development through expanding our digital infrastructure to support innovative teaching methods.”
"The concept of the digital innovation hub will also involve strengthening partnerships with stakeholders to enhance educational outcomes."
For the school administration and stakeholders, he said, the 50 years of growth from humble beginnings entails “celebrating our legacy and appreciating the contribution of those who have gone ahead of us [and] casting our vision forward to ensure we maintain our strong practice of providing a strong and future-proofed value-based education”.
“Our Golden Jubilee is not just a celebration of the past but a launchpad for a future where Rusinga School continues to inspire and equip learners for transformative impact.”
