A school in Mathare founded by the Chinese government on Thursday received desks, chairs and tables from Chinese companies in Kenya.
The companies were organised by the Kenya China Economic and Trade Association and the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China.
Mathare Community Educational and Development Organisation Beijing School was established in 2007 by the Chinese government and has steadily grown, with a population of 526 primary and secondary students today.
Benedict Kiage, the school’s director, said over the years the school has been enrolling more and more students from the community.
“With more students passing through the institution the desks, chairs, and tables have had their fair share of wear and tear,” he said.
Because the school was founded by the Chinese government, Kiage said the majority of the programmes in the school are not funded by the Kenyan government.
“We rely heavily on the donations from KCETA and the Chinese Embassy. The school feeding programme also provides breakfast and lunch to these children who live in Mathare and majority of their families live on Sh100 a day,” Kiage said.
The school received 87 lockers and 70 chairs for the secondary school, six tables and five desks for the primary school and 35 chairs for the pre-primary school.
Economic and Commercial counsellor for the Chinese Embassy in Kenya Zhang YiJun said the donation was a demonstration of the friendship between China and Kenya.
He said that education was one of the greatest skills needed to build a nation.
“The purpose of this school was to renew awareness of education in Mathare and help meet the children’s right to education here," he said.
"I hope all the students here will be able to contribute positively to their families, the country and the friendship between our countries.”
Gladys Achieng, the primary school headteacher, said that for students coming from the informal settlements, food was a great motivation to come to school and sustain them throughout the day.
“We are happy that they are investing in education, especially for people from the slums. The key to leaving the slums for many of these children is through education,” she said.
According to Naftali Kizito, a Std 8 student, MCEDO school provides food to the students during the weekends as well, including to children living around the community.
Since the establishment of the school, more than 1554 students have completed their KCSE at MCEDO, Kiage said, with 889 of them moving on to technical colleges and 111 of them graduating from universities.
(edited by Amol Awuor)
