The school year has got off to a good start, with a full
enrolment of 150 students in Form 1. This was helped by
adding 20 half bursaries to the 40 full bursaries that we
had originally planned to finance with donor funds this
year.
The bursary programme has demonstrated its worth, as 6 of
the 10 students whose Kenya Certificate of Secondary
Education (KCSE) results in 2011 earned them free entry into
universities were bursary holders. It is extraordinary to
think that, if the secondary school had not been built and
they had not been awarded bursaries, none of these would
have ever had a chance of attending university.
The overall KCSE picture for 2011 is most encouraging, with
93 students sitting the exam (94 in 2010). It ranked 10th
out of the 25 secondary schools in the District (15th in
2010), coming ahead of 4 “provincial” schools (1 in 2010).
Average marks rose from 5152 to 5739. There remains a large
gap still between Got Matar and the very top schools, but,
considering that this is only the second year in which
pupils are taking the KCSE, progress is good.
This year we have decided to extend bursaries to enable 10
graduate bursary holders who scored good marks in the KCSE,
but fell slightly short of the grade required for free entry
to university, to make a repeat attempt. The school is
confident that most of them should be able to succeed this
time.
The final stages in the process of officially registering
the Institute of Technology, as a community-run college, are
at last nearing completion.
I
gather that there is a strong demand from the community for
the computer training courses being offered in the Women's
Centre, and Kenya Breweries have donated additional
computers to respond to this. The Centre is also the base
for the Cooking and Catering training courses being offered
by the Institute of Technology, and it is used for short
courses - for example in basket making.
Students in the Woodworking and Welding classes have made
bunks for the many girls who are over-nighting in the
classrooms. They have been designed for eventual transfer
into the girls' dormitory when this is built. Bricks and
Cartwheels, the Australian NGO that is sponsoring its
construction, has completed designs for the complex, and
intends to begin construction this year. They hope to use
the construction process for practical training in design
and building skills.
A number of contacts have been made by the Community that
will hopefully open up fair trade markets for clothes
produced by students of the Dressmaking and Tailoring
course. Given the very small size of the local market for
handmade clothing, it is essential to explore other options,
especially to provide outlets for "graduates" who want to
set up their own businesses.
For the first time, the Community is to host gap year
students. Two Norwegian girls will work at Got Matar for a
couple of months, starting in mid April. Hopefully they can
write the next progress report, giving their first-hand
impression of what is going on!
Several founder donors have stopped contributing to Got
Matar, presumably because they feel that the basic
objectives of the initiative have now been attained. Once
the dormitory has been constructed, further building at the
secondary school will include an assembly hall and teachers'
housing. The bursary programme will cost about Euro 30,000
per year.
Beyond this, the main call on funds will be to expand the
range of vocational training opportunities offered by the
Institute of Technology. If funds permit, the Institute
would like to construct purpose-built facilities to replace
the rented buildings that it is now using.
Audited accounts will soon be posted on the website.
|