By Fredrick Odiero
Joel Omino Mixed Secondary School in Kisumu County has become the first institution in the country to implement the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). The school is set to supplement efforts by the county government in boosting forest and tree cover in Kisumu region.
School Principal Mr. Richard Nyayal said that the arboretum at the institution is ready to sell assorted seedlings to the county government and members of the public and that the first ESD project was launched in August 2013 at the school.
Some of features in the ESD project include learning physics and technology through water purification processes while others include science through organic agriculture, economics and entrepreneurship through the establishment of an organic bakery, sheep rearing and poultry keeping. Other aspects like historic knowledge and traditional society is gained during the process of building traditional Luo-tribe houses. The project is purely run by the students as the school fulfills the motto of developing each student’s head, hand and heart.
“By way utilizing recycled materials for art work, the students are exposed to subjects related to history, technology, democracy and social sciences.” Nyayal said.
He added that the traditional Luo homestead is used to preserve culture and educate the students on the need to preserve the same where the ultimate goal of the joint-project include setting up demonstration centers which will serve as resource center for the community and other schools.
“We are committed to education for sustainable development at all costs” he said.
The arboretum is one of the projects which the school has been implementing in ESD that was launched in July 2013 by the then Israeli Ambassador to Kenya Gil Haskel, thus, making it the pioneer school with the kind of project in the country. In the arboretum they have planted both indigenous and exotic plants that act as natural habitat for birds in order to balance nature and provide a micro-park. The birds are fed with kitchen refuse and left-overs.
“This makes us a home of a variety of birds which are ever here for feeding hence our visitors’ ears are met by pleasant tunes from them,” The Principal said.
The project is providing vegetables for the school as well as being used by students to learn Agriculture as part of education for sustainable development. Schools across the country have been visiting the institution with aims of borrowing a leaf on the unique development.
Besides the Food Tower at the school, the other notable aspect is the bio-sand water filter where they produce clean drinking water which is sieved through sand and drained to super drums.
“It is this ESD project on food tower that impressed a group of University Students from Israel and they decided to donate a new green house for the school in order to help in enhancing the horticultural farming in the school as part of the ESD project.” He said.
He noted that the school has harvested tomatoes which were planted and biologically produced in the greenhouse therefore free from chemicals. Every kilogram of the tomatoes sold at Sh100 where teachers and members of the local community were their major customers.
The school advised both students and parents to fully embrace the ESD concept for it can greatly help them at home as it strives to drive the concept of ESD to the students for them not only to embrace environmental conservation but also instill religious, cultural values and conflict resolution.
The concept is strongly reinforced by five pillars of five ‘Rs’; Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Refuse and Repair.
There is also a traditional hut which is located at the main entrance where that the artifacts and other items that exhibit culture and traditions of the local community are exhibited.
“The Traditional hut within the school also serves as a conference room which hosts all our meetings including BOGs, PTA and Staff Meetings among others as well as hosting high profile Guests,” says the Principal
The school will be taking 9 students to public universities out of the 104 who sat for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations as they put focus to do better in the next examinations.
The school has already benefited from a Sh13 million ultramodern facility which will house several departments courtesy of the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) through Kisumu Central Member of Parliament Fred Ouda.
Nyayal lauded the Mp for the gesture and said the school, which was founded in1996 by the community is full of enthusiasm and eagerness to prosper academically.
The school has 18 teachers employed by the Teacher’s Service Commission (TSC) and two more by the school’s board of management.
The school boasts of a population of over 600 students.
Lack of enough laboratories and students coming from poor and vulnerable backgrounds are some of the challenges facing the institution.
