CHILDREN

 

Hope

 

Educational

​

Centre

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Hope Educational Centre is a private, Christian, primary school located in the rural area of Sakwa/Kisii, about a five-hour's drive northwest of Nairobi. Though in the "bush" and off a dirt road, it is a beautiful area with lush vegetation, consisting of many colorful trees, flowers, and crops such as corn, avocados, bananas, tea, and coffee.

 

The school was started in 2007 and soon partnered with Hope Africa Ministries, Inc. and Christ Church of Fairfax Station, VA, with the vision of providing a quality Christian education for the poorest of the poor. The school began with 23 pupils and added one class per year, and now has a full early childhood development program --with Pre-Primary 1 and 2 classes--as well as Grades 1 through 8. The school has 10 classrooms, an office, and a Media Centre. There are 17 staff members who include the Head Teacher, two Accounts Clerks, Cook, Watchman, and teachers.  Currently school enrollment is 420 pupils, which includes several orphans and some who are positive for HIV.

 

The school had been located on a few different pieces of rental property until 2014, when three acres of land were bought to provide a home for a permanent school compound.  By buying our own land, the school would have a solid future with no possibility of having it stolen away as often happens in impoverished, poorly regulated areas such as this. Over the years, Christ Church and Hope Africa Ministries, Inc. have helped to buy supplies, pay teachers, obtain government certification, provide medical care for the pupils, build classrooms, provide textbooks, and improve the conditions of the school which once met in mud and stick structures. Since 2014, a two-story classroom block of 12 rooms has been built, toilet blocks for girls, boys, and staff, and a temporary, iron-sheet building to house the pupils in the construction years. The classroom block was completed in July 2021 and a ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony was held in August. Special guests for the event were Rev. John Speight, the pastor of Christ Church; Roberta Peterson, President of Hope Africa Ministries, Inc.; and some members of their church and board. 

 

The school performs well on the end-of term and end-of-year exams, often placing individual students and grade levels in the top three positions within their zone. In 2015, the first year our Grade 8/candidates sat for the national exams--KCPE's--all 20 of our pupils scored in the top 20% nationally and our average score was 100 points higher than the national average for private schools. Our candidates have not been able to match that high level since, but we did have our first pupil score 400 marks in 2019, which is a great achievement allowing him to attend one of the best secondary schools in the country. 

 

The Media Centre houses our computers, movie projector and videos, and library.  There are computers and desks for a classroom of pupils for learning activities. The projector and screen allow the showing of videos for both instruction and entertainment. The library now has over 1000 books which are used by the teachers for classes and for the upper primary students to check out for pleasure and informative reading. Less than 10% of primary schools in Kenya have a library, making our pupils very fortunate to have this opportunity to increase reading and improve reading comprehension.

 

The school curriculum was changed in 2017 to a Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) which introduced several new subjects to the classroom such as agriculture, home science, physical education and health, and technology. This change in curriculum was to focus on the talents of a pupil in a wide spectrum of areas. Some of the new activities at the school because of the CBC are planting crops, repurposing materials, and planting fruit and shade trees.