Minutes:
NOTE OF A VISIT TO ASAKO PRIMARY SCHOOL BY GILL
MARSHALL-ANDREWS COURTESY OF KWS PLANE AND ESCORT.
ON 21 JANUARY 2015
Initial discussion with the headteacher Hassan Farah
Sulieman
School update
The exam results were much improved. A mean score of 227 compared with a score of
214 Last year.
14 boys and 4 girls took the exam.
In this year’s Standard 8 there are 20 students (11 boys and 9 girls). Efforts will be made to ensure that all these
students stay to the end and take the exam.
The new Standard 1 class has 35 (20 boys and 15 girls). This is a very different picture from how it
was 5 years ago when there were only 4 or 5 girls in the whole school.
The school has 5 TSC teachers plus the headteacher.
One of the teachers has been sent over to Pamba Island to
teach a Standard 1 class there – alongside the nursery class already operating
there.
This means that Standard 2,3,4,5,6,7,8 children from the
island have to come across the river by boat to Asako.
Boat repair
The boat still leaks and is dangerous- hence the fact that
the youngest children do not come across to Asako. The school is still looking for a boat
repairer to give a proper estimate.
50,000 Kes has been sent to the APST for this purpose.
Water
KES have still not piped the water as they promised so there
is no water to the school compound.
Donkeys are still employed to fetch water from the river. GMA will write to KWS and the governor about
this.
The governor Amb Hussein Dado has visited the school and
agreed to fund solar panels and a pump for the borehole. There is concern about the quality of the
water in the borehole.
Staff houses
The teacher are refusing to pay rent for the staff houses
they occupy. This has been the case ever since the buildings were
constructed. The houses now need
significant repair after 5 years and one of the conditions for further TAS
funding for the school was that the issue is sorted out. The staff need to pay rent so there is a
maintenance fund for the repairs. They
receive a housing allowance of 3000 Kes per month and the cost of a room in the village is around 500Kes per
month. The staff houses are of a much
higher standard so theoretically the teachers should pay more than 500Kes.
Meeting with the
whole staff
GMA explained that there would be no further funding from
TAS until the teachers started paying rent.
After a lengthy discussion they agreed to pay 500 Kes per month. The headteacher would collect the money and
deposit it in the account set up for that purpose. He would give receipts.
TAS funding
It was agreed that 1.2 million Kes for the girls dormitory would be released
once the rent started being paid. The
same contractor who constructed the Boka girls dormitory will be used. There may be a necessity for a screen around
the building but that would be the subject of a further proposal. Funds for an
educational trip – 349,000Kes will also be released. The transport contractor will be paid direct.
Other proposals might include:
Desks, chairs, solar for two classrooms and the two dorms
(after the girls dorm has been completed).
The meeting ended at 9.30am.
