Greenland Girls—a school in Kajiado County that house teenage mothers and their children in order to access education has become a benchmarking centre for leaders across the globe.
The centre was recently visited by Parliamentarians from Uganda, Parliament Committee of Gender Labour and Social Development for benchmarking who commended the school management for giving another chance to the mothers to fulfill their dreams of getting school education.
The school was founded by Samuel Mukilya, and Purity Gikunda— women activist who has dedicated her life to empowering girls, helping them restore dignity associated with teenage pregnancy, gender-based violence and break educational barriers.
The MPs led by the committee chairperson Flavia Rwabuhoro Kabahenda said they were in the country to learn best practices on how to keep the teen mums in school.
She noted that during Covid-19 Africa recorded high cases teenage pregnancy, the lawmakers then tried to come up with a motion in Uganda parliament to integrate the girls back to school, the motion received resistance from a section of leaders who included religious leaders.
“There was a lot of resistance when we brought the motion, people saw the girls as spoilers but we must give them another chance of getting education, we have to accept that we have such girls,” she said.
The MP were impressed by the Greenland School efforts of getting the girls back to school and noted that Kenya has made a big step in enrolling back to school the mothers comparing to Uganda.
READ ALSO:
Sexual harassment on the rise in institutions of higher learning
She noted that The Care and Protection of Child Parents Bill, 2023 in Kenyan parliament, will actualize the girls’ right to basic education while ensuring the care of their children, urging Kenyan MPs to pass it.
In Uganda, there is no systematic way of getting the girls back to school and taking care of their kids, learning institutions do it silently due to stigma this keeps away many girls away.
The MP said they will recommend strategies used in Kenya to keep teen mums in school including coming up with policies for public schools to have ECD centres to take care of the children.
Other MPs who accompanied her include Sarah Najjuma, Bakkabulindi Charles, Sowedi Kitanywa, Nantongo Fortunate , Martha Kaganzi (Clerk of Parliament) Caroline Akullo (Clerk) and Dr Omar Dawood (Learning Coordinator). This is the second parliamentary committee to visit the centre.
Kajiado East MP Kakuta Maimai commended the school for having a great vision for girls. The legislator said he supports every girl to access education in the county to better their lives. The MP has been supporting the school through bursaries.
He applauded the Ugandan MPs for using the school as a benchmarking centre, saying there is a lot to learn from Kenya when it comes to empowering of women and girls.
The school founder, Gikunda, revealed that she started the school with 80 girls, now there are over 200, and those who have applied to join are over 2,000. They are now looking into expansion to accommodate more girls.
The director said having a child care in the Centre in the school helps the girls bond with their children hence giving them psychological support.
The school co-founder Mukilya said that the schools were founded in 2018 on the International Day of the Girl Child, since then they have been receiving girls also rescuing others who are given away to marriage after giving birth.
Apart from basic learning the girls learn skills that will help them in taking care of their children when they finish high school.
The initiative has seen the management open another school in Meru (which tops in teenage pregnancy) and Makueni counties, they are seeking to have such schools in every county.
They also work with men to reduce teenage pregnancy since most of them are directly involved.
By Obegi Malack
obegimalack@gmail.com
To write to us or offer feedback, you can reach us at: editor@educationnews.co.ke
You can also follow our social media pages on Twitter: Education News KE and Facebook: Education News Newspaper for timely updates.
>>> Click here to stay up-to-date with trending regional stories
