Gundua School Projekt

The existing secondary school in Ex-Lewa is a boarding school, with few local pupils as fees are high. The Gundua Day Secondary School will provide education for the children, while they are able to help out at home after school. The fees are low, so that families can afford them.

The Kenyan government encourages the building of day schools, and has provided land for the new secondary school next to an existing primary school, the Ex-Lewa Primary School. A project organisation is in place, including a school committee with the local land owner. A contractor will be responsible for the building of the school. Together with dedicated local forces they represent the Gundua Foundation in Kenya.

Kenya is surrounded by the Indian Ocean and Somalia to the east, Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, and the Sudan and Ethiopia to the north. Kenya has 34 million inhabitants and was until 1963 a British colony. English and Swahili are official languages, and there is a large number of local languages spoken around the country.

The school is built in two stages, gradually providing all children in the area with the possibility of higher education. The first steps were taken in 2007, and now two years later, in the autumn of 2009 the school is to be completed and ready to welcome 320 students. During the autumn the buildings with class rooms, laboratory, canteen, toilets and library are to be completed. Teachers have been hired, and when the school year started in February around 150 students between 14 and 17 were enrolled in the school. The students are taught in a modern way, with the aim that the knowledge should benefit the area.

The government has agreed to take over the running of the school three years into the project. The teachers’ wages are paid by the government and the daily running of the school is managed by a local school board, along with a principal. The day-to-day needs of the school will be covered by small fees from the families whose children go to the school, and it will be possible to further contribute to for example books and meals.

Choosing Ex-Lewa for the new secondary school is due to a combination of needs and existing networks. Already established local contacts mean a lesser risk of running into problems, and perhaps more importantly easier to solve difficulties that may arise along the way.

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