NASHIPAE’S STORY: THE VITAL IMPORTANCE OF DAY SECONDARY SCHOOLS 

Nashipae’s story illuminates why access to affordable, walkable day secondary schools can alter the trajectory of a life.

Dedicated to her studies and extremely bright, Nashipae, an orphan who lived with her grandmother, scored higher than any other girl in the entire Loita Hills region on Kenya’s high school entrance exam last year. Her scores gained her entrance into a National High School, the highest level in Kenya. But then, life threw her two more challenges: Her grandmother died, and she got pregnant. Nashipae and her baby moved in with an aunt, but after another family member also became pregnant, the burden became too great, and the uncle kicked Nashipae out. A brother finally welcomed her and her baby back into the original family compound, which happens to be within walking distance of Morijo, the village where we first opened a day secondary school in 2020.

Thanks to this new secondary day school, Nashipae will still be able to continue her education. Morijo Day Secondary School is walkable and affordable. Equally important, the quality of education she’ll receive there is high, thanks in part to new programs we piloted last year. A new first year grant program is helping ensure that girls like Nashipae will have female teachers in the classroom serving as emotional support and role models. We are also piloting new technology in the form of R.A.C.H.E.L.s (Remote Area Community Hotspots for Education and Learning) –– hard drives that emit a WIFI signal and function like the internet in remote locations. Once these are adapted to the needs of local schools, they have the potential to provide access to contemporary and high-quality interactive content from Khan Academy and others, creating an invaluable resource for students and teachers in an extremely resource-poor environment.