St. Anne- Kenol Primary School
St Anne- Kenol School is in Murang'a County, Kenya, in a town called Kenol. The Community Initiative runs the School for Self-Empowerment, a non-profit organization. The Principal for St Anne Kenol School is Anne Nyambura. The school has primary and secondary schools that share a compound. The primary (grade 1 to 8) was established in January 2010, followed by the high school (grade 9 to 12) in January 2017. The current total enrollment (boys and girls) for the Primary School is 130 pupils and 260 students for the High School.
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Kenol is a peri-urban area, and most of the residents of Kenol are self employed. Most of the initiatives they run are informal, and their incomes are unstable. In 2019, ECC- USA supported St Anne- Kenol School with textbooks worth about $5,000. The textbooks have gone a long way in boosting the academic performance of our students.
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"St Anne- Kenol school fraternity is and will be forever grateful for the textbooks bought using the funds from you. This week, we had a parent meeting for all the classes, during which we told the parents the good news. They were very excited because the textbooks would go a long way in improving the school performance of their sons and daughters."
- Ms Anne Nyambura, who manages the Saint Anne's High School.
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Future Proposed Projects in St Anne Kenol School
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The school still experiences water problems as it needs a reliable water source. The school buys water from local suppliers. This water is sometimes not readily available and is expensive. The support with five plastic tanks has improved conditions, but when there is no rain, the school has to buy water. Water supply by the local government could be more reliable. The school has proposed that digging a borehole will provide a reliable source of water in the school. The borehole will provide water to the community neighboring the school as well.
Basic Needs
The Daily Lunch Programme
The daily lunch programme has been benefiting 690 pupils from needy families. Each school day, the needy school children are provided with porridge and an egg at 10 am. During lunch, the children are given a plate of rice with beans or ndengu (green grams) and a fruit. ​
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Every Child Counts offers this lunch programme to students at:
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Waitua Primary School
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St. Anne- Kenol Primary School
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Senior Chief Mutunkei Primary School
Kenya is a middle-income economy with pockets of poverty across the Country. Poverty and social degeneration have often led to orphaned children, single parent families, abandonment of children and growth of slums. All these have an impact on children who remain innocent and victims of circumstances. Many of these children often end up on the streets, teenage prostitution, robbery, or child labor. Every Child Counts (ECC) has an opportunity to make a change in the lives of many children within the schools they are already working with for the ongoing projects (Waitua, Napara, Kanjeru, Kisawayi).
In the current education system in Kenya, children spend eight years in primary school, four in secondary and a final four at the university. Schools are open for three terms (semesters) a year for an approximate 11 weeks each.
Its noteworthy to mention that Kenya introduced free primary school education back in 2002. This program has seen millions of needy children who would otherwise not be able to, attend primary school. The biggest challenge comes about when they need to advance their education to secondary level. Secondary schools are heavily subsidized by the Government but remain nonetheless not free.
A typical public secondary school charges between Kes 50,000 and Kes 70,000 ($500 to $700) per annum*. An additional amount of Kes 24,000 ($240) per annum would cater for schoolbooks, uniform, etc. Total fees over four years of secondary school would average Kes 296,000 to Kes 376,000($2,960 to $ 3,760).
Every Child Counts plans to offer scholarships to 36 students as they move to high school. St. Anne- Kenol will receive 6 of these scholarships.
Scholarship Program
Community Empowerment
Construction of Rain Water Harvesting Tanks
During the COVID-19 pandemic 2020, the Kenyan government required all schools to have running water for hand washing and cleaning to slow the spread of coronavirus. St Anne School needed to have adequate water supply. The school requested that ECC provide plastic tanks so that they could harvest water from the rooftops of buildings in the school and increase their water storage capacity. This support came in handy. The school was able to cope with the challenges of the pandemic.​​
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Every Child Counts has build these tanks at:
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Waitua Primary School
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Kanjeru Primary School
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St. Anne- Kenol Primary School
