Two Kenyan schools shortlisted for World's Best School Prizes
Still I Rise International School. Based in Nairobi, Still I Rise International School, was recognised as being the first in the world to offer the International Baccalaureate to refugee children, free of charge.
Two Kenyan Schools shortlisted in the World's Best School Prizes will be given a chance to share their expertise on the T4 Communities App, after emerging among top global change-makers globally.
The two, Amani School for Refugees and Still I Rise International School, emerged among the top in the list for the Prize launched this year for the impact they have created in the country due to their support for education on children refugees.
Based in Nairobi, Still I Rise International School, was recognised as being the first in the world to offer the International Baccalaureate to refugee children, free of charge.
Located in the heart of Mathare slum, one of the largest slums in Africa, the school works to celebrate differences among its diverse students and tackle the inequalities they face, providing them with two meals a day, uniforms, stationery and health insurance.
Around half of its students are refugees from Congo, Burundi, Ethiopia, Uganda, Somali, South Sudan, and Rwanda, the rest are Kenyans from vulnerable backgrounds.
The awards also recognised the school for allowing students to use their native languages at least once a week “and on occasion teachers and students attend school in an outfit of their choice that shows off their unique heritage.”
On the other hand, Amani School for Refugees, a charity-based teacher training college and primary school in Kakuma and run by a group of volunteers who were themselves, refugees.
The initiative was the result of a community effort to give children in the Kakuma refugee camp the education their teachers received.
Pupils at the Wakadogo school in Uganda. The school emerged top in this year's competition.
“All shortlisted schools across the five Prizes from Kenya and around the world will share their best practices through School Transformation Toolkits that showcase their 'secret sauce' to innovative approaches and step-by-step instructions on how others can replicate their methods to help improve education everywhere. These will be available on the new T4 Communities app launched at World Education Week,” award organizers said.
T4 Education is a global organisation for the promotion of education, through building a community of teachers and schools and providing opportunities for educators to network, collaborate, share good practices, and support each other's efforts to improve learning.
During this year’s awards, Uganda’s Project Shelter Wakadogo - founded in the wake of war and now educates over 450 children with one of the highest student retention rates in the country - was today named the winner of the inaugural World’s Best School Prize for Overcoming Adversity.
It will be among five schools globally that will get a Sh6 million ($50,000) each.
The prizes are awarded to schools investing heavily in the lines of Community Collaboration, Environmental Action, Innovation, Overcoming Adversity, and Supporting Healthy Lives while shaping children.
