How Mawazo is Improving the Odds for Young Girls Using Education
“According to a 2018 report by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Kenya has been declining in its goal to achieve gender parity in education attainment.”
Rebeccah Wambui, an Agape Hope student the Mawazo Institute sponsored to attend the 60th London International Youth Science Fair.
Author: Naliaka Odera
The Mawazo Institute remains committed to empowering and supporting Kenyan women in STEM. According to a 2018 report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) [1], Kenya has been declining in its goal to achieve gender parity in education attainment. In 2018, Kenya ranked 122nd globally, down from 116th in 2016. The report indicated that though gender parity has been achieved in primary education, women and girls still face challenges in accessing higher education [2]. This points to a need to support young girls further along in the education pipeline, increasing their chances at a tertiary education.
The Mawazo Institute is doing its part by providing scholarships to two secondary girl students at the Kenya High School, and by funding another promising young girl to attend the 2018 London International Youth Science Fair (LIYSF). The Kenya High School has been in existence since the early 1900s and was the highest performing school in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education national exams in 2019. In fact, Kenya High School has consistently produced some of the highest performing students in the country, including the Mawazo Institute’s CEO, Dr. Rose M. Mutiso. For her, the education and exposure to opportunities that she received while at Kenya High School were integral to her continued success. Dr. Rose describes the school as the place where her curiosity and interest in a broad range of topics first developed.
But beyond being a good school on paper, it has also successfully fostered strong bonds between students and teachers, and the staff is often as invested as the students’ families are in the students’ success. Mrs. Teresia Maina, who was Dr. Rose’s teacher from Form 1 to Form 4, makes a point of keeping in touch with her students. When Mawazo reached out with its offer to provide tuition bursaries, the veteran teacher intuitively knew which students would benefit most from extra support and nominated two girls: Zippora and Jackline.
For Zippora and Jackline, that support has been instrumental. After struggling with the instability of not being able to pay for school fees, Zippora finished her Form 4 schooling as a strong B student with Mawazo’s support. She has since been accepted into Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) to pursue a Bachelor of Commerce. Jackline, whose grades during Form 1 were also quite low, is now entering her third year of secondary school.
Mrs. Maina emphasizes that supporting girls’ education at this stage of their lives makes an immeasurable difference to the rest of their academic journeys. This was exemplified when Mawazo, in partnership with Global Minimum and Young Scientists for Africa (YOSA), co-sponsored Rebeccah Wambui, a student from Agape Hope Schools, to attend the 60th London International Youth Science Fair. Rebeccah describes her love for science as a ‘thirst to find out what science can do.’ Her experience in London, she says, was transformative. It allowed her to begin to see herself as more than a teenager from a remote part of the world and, instead, as a future scientist and burgeoning leader.
Ultimately, the decision to support these three students is aligned with Mawazo’s goal to empower young girls and women across the region. We believe that with this kind of support, which adds value to their education, there is no telling what girls like Rebeccah, Zippora, and Jackline will feel energized to achieve. As Elaine Mungai, Mawazo’s Programme Manager says, “These are the future PhD students and research students.”
[1] WEForum - World Economic Forum. The Global Gender Gap Report 2018
[2] Ochieng, Adonijah. “Kenya making only modest progress in closing gender gap.” Business Daily. January 7, 2019.