East Africa
Poverty means millions of people find it difficult, and often impossible, to access basic human rights like education.
In Kenya, for example, more than 40 percent of kids never make it to fifth grade. This may seem strange in light of the fact that Kenya offers free primary education. The problem is that many children can’t afford things like uniforms and school supplies. In addition, schools are sometimes too far away for kids to attend.
Almost the same number of boys and girls in Kenya enroll in primary school.
Although almost the same number of boys and girls in Kenya enroll in primary school, only 30 percent of students at universities are female. This is partially because the burden of poverty often falls on girls, forcing them to forgo their education in order to care for younger siblings and sick parents. Even the daily chore of collecting safe drinking water takes away from time girls could be in school, as they often have to walk for hours just to find clean sources of water.
In West African countries like Kenya and Tanzania where primary education is free, one resulting problem is that the classrooms are overflowing.
Fact File
In 2004, Tanzania’s ratio of students to teachers was 59:1, the ratio of students to desks was 5:1 and the ratio of students to classrooms was 73:1.
Out of East Africa and Into the Classroom
Make these numbers real for your students by asking them to try sitting five students to a desk for an afternoon. How does this exercise make them feel? Could they learn well if they always had to sit like this? Would they want to come to class if they knew they had nowhere to sit?
Across East Africa, millions of children are unable to attend school because they are forced to work in order to help their families survive. These children are part of a global 218 million children between the ages of five and 17 who are working. Sub-Saharan Africa, which most countries in East Africa fall into, has the highest rate of child labor in the world—26 percent of the children in this area are working.