Chairman's Report 2011

In the past 12 months, 2 trustees and 4 supporters made a 2 week visit to the school.( November 2011.) The school currently has approx. 330 pupils with enrolment for KG1 still ongoing. There are 71 sponsored pupils, 56 in the primary and kindergarten, and 15 in secondary.

The main problem facing the local people has been food price inflation, with some staples such as beans and maize flour rising by up to 40%. The Kenyan shilling has also been on a roller coaster exchange rate, dropping dramatically in October 2011, but currently slowly picking up again. This instability has had the effect of our usual banker no longer being able to send Kenyan shillings directly, with the result that money has had to be sent in GBP, which is subject to variable bank charges and exchange rate in Kenya. Alternative methods of remitting funds have , however ,been secured.

The results in leaving exams in 2011 have again been excellent, with the school therefore having achieved the highest marks in the Msambweni district for the past 3 years. Out of a maximum result of 500, the highest in the school was 375. 400 marks normally assures a place in a National school, the most prestigious, the other 2 grades being Provincial and District in order of marks attained. Coast Province has traditionally performed poorly in school exams compared to the rest of Kenya. A nearby government primary is in fact one of the poorest performers in the country. It is therefore gratifying that KAG school is doing so well, providing a good education, and breaking the mould.

The government pays something towards secondary education but in view of the extra charges which are added on for things such as board, lodging (most secondaries are some distance away from the pupil’s home ), medical expenses, transport, exams books etc, there is still considerable money to find .It is clear that in Kenya the ‘education bottleneck’ is secondary school, with many families not being able to finance it. To this end , it has been decided that sponsors who decide to continue to secondary will pay a max of £200, with additional money having to come from parents or by village fundraising. These sponsored pupils are now not at KAG school and it has been agreed that the following conditions have to be met for sponsorship to continue.

First, a school report has to be handed to the head teacher of KAG each term and a reasonable attainment reached.

Secondly ,by November each year, a letter for the sponsor must be provided. It has been asked that this be done now in August to avoid Harrison and Rosemary chasing up in November before we return to the UK

Thirdly, there must be no arrears of fees due at the end of each year.

These conditions have been fully explained to the pupils and parents.

Most of the pupils are complying with the above but some need a little ‘jogging’ by Rosemary and head teacher Harrison at the end of the year.

Fund Raising

The Charity’s main fundraiser was held in November, and raised £1700, a record! Powerpoint presentations continue to be given to interested groups when requested, and this serves to disseminate information about the work being done, and attracts further financial support.

School Management

Continues to be done by board of governors who meet monthly. (we have nothing to do with the actual running of the school). The trustees of EAEP are gratified to learn that the board of governors at the school have nearly completed a business plan.

Teaching Staff

These are detailed in the annual news letter. There is a natural turnover of staff, with a new deputy head (Christine), recently appointed.

Buildings

Classrooms and administration block are completed. Comments were made by the trustees last year regarding ongoing maintenance of buildings. It was good to note that during our visit in November 2011, the nursery had been improved, with new tile floors in all 3 classrooms, new mattresses and wooden coat hooks. The library/community room/computer room, has been built up to roof level and is floored. The next major job is to roof it , which will allow the building to be used for a variety of purposes pending completion. The cost of roof timbers and corrugated iron roof sheets is high, but it is hoped that funds may be available for this in the next 12 months.

Toilets

A new block of toilets was completed at the primary school in October 2011 , following a donation of £600 from Horbury and Ossett Phoenix Rotary Club. The cost of the block was £1100, the difference being made up by an anonymous donation. The existing toilets at the primary school were inadequate for the numbers of pupils, but shall remain in use. The new block comprises 4 toilets and urinal. Instead of being the normal ‘pit latrine’, the new block will be connected to a septic tank as soon as funds allow, and this is therefore a priority. The septic tank will also be of sufficient capacity to service a further toilet block which will be built in the future. It will be emptied when required and thus avoid the problem of ‘pit latrines’ filling up , and so having to be moved or filled in and abandoned.

School Bus

The old minibus had outlived its usefulness, and was too small for the increasing pupil numbers. In May 2010, a new 28 seater ISUZU was purchased. This is a great improvement and has enabled the school to hire it out ,eg , to other schools , for day trips, and hopefully will contribute to its running costs. Ali, the driver is part of the hire package, and he has satisfactorily completed all the necessary PSV training and certification. The school also employs a conductor whose main role is to supervise the children and ensure safety.

Sponsorship Costs.

This is now £150 pa, having been increased from £125. Secondary sponsorship is £200.(see above)

Mosquito Nets

200 were installed in 2009 with the help of the male teachers and 200 in 2010. Some of the funding for this came from a Rotary Club of which the chairman is a member(Horbury and Ossett Phoenix www.phoenixrotary.co.uk)(£500 2009 and £400 2010) with other donations from a variety of sources to make it up to £1000 both years. In 2009 we concentrated on the families of sponsored children as, by definition, they should be the poorest. Needy neighbours etc were also included if the headmaster felt it was appropriate. In 2010, we concentrated on the under 5s and their families many of whom were not pupils at the school. The headmaster drew up a list of families he felt were needy and we tried to stick to that. Instruction sheets were left in each house and how to use nets was explained as best we could. The local people appeared to much appreciate the supply of nets supplied by KAG school. In 2011 we distributed and erected a further 170 nets meaning that now ALL the children have nets. This was again financed by the above Rotary Club, Morley Rotary club, and private donations. Further mosquito net supply will depends on finances, but it is to be hoped it can be extended to other schools.

Pupil’s Diet

Some concern had been expressed by the head teacher re the diet that some of the pupils received. A balanced meal was supplied at lunch time daily, which certainly goes some way to ensuring that nutrition is reasonable, but some children undoubtedly still have inadequate diets, and to this end, the school has started buying in milk daily . A good price has been negotiated but the cost is still 15sh daily, and has to be paid by the parents .During our recent visit, we arranged for one of the sponsored children, whose nutrition was questionable, to have milk for the next year. Around one third of sponsors now pay for their child to have daily milk, at a cost of £25 per year, in addition to the annual donation.

Website

This now contains a lot of information on various aspects of what our charity is doing. The school is also hoping to use the web site this year.(www.emleyafricanschools.co.uk)

Future

The priorities are as follows---

A well at the primary school OR mains piped water. Currently water is provided by an adjacent well , has to be carried to the school, and incurs considerable on going charges, and is inadequate .

A septic tank at the primary school.(see earlier section on toilets). This requires piped water to be properly used.

Library/community room completion and fitting, supply of library books and possibly computers, and continuing supply of mosquito nets in adjacent villages, building a school perimeter fence.

James Donnan (Chairman ) 9/2/2012.