Join 

LAUNCH OF SECOND MATHEMATICS RESOURCE CENTER AT KOREDO MIXED SECONDARY SCHOOL

Background Information
In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic Alie Eleveld, Contact Person in Kenya and founder of Safe Water and AIDS project (SWAP) was appointed as member of the Lake Region Economic Bloc COVID-19 Advisory Committee, providing advisory services to the Governors of 14 counties in Western Kenya.
One of the initiative the committee started was the Adopt a School Initiative to support schools to comply with COVID-19 rules and regulations. One of the schools SWAP adopted was Ombaka Primary School. This school had also serves as evacuation camp because of flood and needed support. The interventions provided were providing water tanks, hand washing stations, ceramic filters, water treatment, soap, sanitary pads and face masks. A school health club was formed and trained. Eligible children were vaccinated for COVID-19 as well as outreaches were organized in the communities. A kitchen was build and a feeding program was started. Toilets were renovated. Flood response continued in the communities around the school. The feeding program and sanitation improvements was realized with Donor See funds.
During a meeting with the Dutch Ambassador, Alie had a chance to be introduced to his wife is lecturer in mathematics and who shared with her the opportunity of applying for a Mathematics Resource Center from the World Mathematics Fund. In collaboration with the school management an application was submitted and a mathematics resource center was launched at the school with teaching aids and mathematics books in 2021.
With all the ongoing interventions and the Mathematics Resource Center there was great improvement in the school’s performance. During closure of the school year SWAP was invited and the School management reported the following.
- More girls were taking on mathematics and science
- Enrollment in the school improved
- Every year the academic performance of the students improved
- More children were enrolled in National Learning institution
- The school was for the first time captured on National TV and visited by the Cabinet Secretary for Education
Other positive indicators were that less girls were getting pregnant, improved hygiene and sanitation, increased awareness, better menstrual hygiene management, less, and improved nutritional status.
Prof Shem Otoi is a Professor of Statistics. During COVID-19 he was responsible for the mathematical modeling of the pandemic and was chairing the COVID-19 Advisory Committee. He is board member of Koredo Mixed Secondary school in remote area of Homa Bay in Western Kenya Koredo Mixed School is a day school which started in 2005 and currently has 267 students supported by 7 Government trained and 6 untrained teachers. The beneficiaries from the mathematics resource center are the head teacher, 3 mathematics teachers, the untrained teachers, and all students. A second application for a Mathematics Resource Center was submitted for Koredo Mixed Secondary School and approved.

Books and teaching aids on display