The Liberty Community School

Introduction

As the name suggests,the Liberty Community School in Riruta, Kawangware slums,in western Nairobi is a community basic education school.It serves mainly children from the expansive slum village of over 250,000 inhabitants .Current school enrolment stands at 300 children from ages 4 to 16.

The children attend classes from early child-hood(ages 4,5), Nursery(ages 6,7), lower primary (ages 8-10) and upper primary(ages 11-16). Classes in the school are not standard (6 x 7.8m), but measure (4x4m). Moreover, the classrooms in the school are made of iron sheets and wood, which again, is not standard. These features make schools of such nature in the slums to be referred to as “non-formal”.

Foundation and Management

The school was founded in 2002 after community deliberations. The local community, despite their slum backgrounds, are development conscious. They run the school through financial contributions, ideas and volunteerism. For example, they contribute finances to pay the teachers, stimulate feeding and purchase instructional materials.

Unlike other basic schools headed by headmasters, the Liberty School is headed by a Director. The Director is the executive head of the school, and works together with other leaders to run the programmes of the school. Under the Director are the following other leaders of the school:

Head teacher: Leads the education programme in the school. He is the chief teacher in the school, and often designs how quality education can be achieved within the school.

Health Coordinator: The health coordinator looks after the health of the entire children population. He coordinates health programmes with other supporting organizations, including the government. Feeding activities are under the health coordinator.

Training Coordinator: Designs and carries out skills programmes within the school. These include computers, masonry and woodwork technology, which are done in linkage with local organizations.

Special Programmes Coordinator: Leads the department of special programmes. These may include linkages with friendly schools, online training, fundraising, disseminating information about the school, press releases, etc. This coordinator, usually one of the school teachers, will be responsible for this programme.

Activities

The Liberty School is founded on the moral laws of supporting needy children to become productive citizens later despite their poor backgrounds. To that end, the children are involved in programmes and projects that bring hope to them and to others. The school carries out physical education, sports, writing competitions, athletics, etc. The school is respected in these areas of growth. The distance adoption programe carried with Centre Narovinu is very popular here, as it supports many needy children to stay at school.

Please see some of our photos, attached.

Kind regards,

Scholastica Wanjiku,
Special Programmes Coordinator