Patmos Junior Foundation

About Our School

Activities

scan0009 (39K) The main activites of PATMOS JUNIOR SCHOOL is to enroll school going age children into our centre and also track children who have dropped out of school and bring them to a learning process in our centre.

We also look forward to offer shelter to the homeless children and ensure the health of the children is fine,among other activities.

We do this using the meagre income contributed from the members of the organsation.

The learning centre has been in operation for 2 years and had enrolled 50 children up to end of the year 2007. However due to the electoral skirmishes that our country faced, many families scattered due to displacement.

The centre now has fluctuating number of children of about 80 but as peace have resumed, many have returned to the centre to resume their education.

The work force consists of six teachers, one cook and two administrators. All are giving their services voluntarily although a small token is given to them to meet their essential needs. This is because we cannot afford to pay professional teachers as we have no sources of funds.

We basically have no partnering donors both locally and internationally but rely on well wishers, business community, churches and volunteers in donating towards the needs of this centre We are ready to collaborate in conjunction with organization who believes in keeping their cultural heritage at the expense of real simple living.

This is a human suffering which must stop at all costs through friends like your organization in any kind of assistance

Our policy and program decision will always be evidence-based and driven by results. We shall abide by all your rules and regulations at all times.

Mean while we remain hopeful that your cooperation with us and understanding our needs will make a change to the future generation

PATMOS JUNIOR SCHOOL look forward to joining hands with other well wishers both locally and globally to ensure that the future of this little angels inside Mathare slum is brightened by enabling them get eduaction

PATMOS JUNIOR SCHOOL consists of pre-school and primary school from class 1 to 5 with an increasing number of children now in 70's

The children

scan0009 (39K)

It is hard to imagine the level of poverty that the children we serve grow up in the slum of Mathare in Kenya.

Some of these children are actually abandoned by their parents due to financial problems.

Others are AIDS orphans, trying to fend for themselves. Some live with one parent, others with older siblings who are teens themselves.

Most parents and guardians are unemployed and under educated.

Classrooms

All classrooms at Patmos Junior are made of iron sheets nailed to the post for walls and roof, dirty floors and wooden bench desks. Chalkboards are a real necessity because those that exist are in poor condition, classes are in poor condition.

Classrooms are made up of children of variety of ages. Classrooms are small and overcrowded- desks that should serve three children, serve six and even more.

Classes

Classes start at kindergarten to primary section from standard one to standard five.

Students take an exam to determine if they can be promoted to the next grade the following year.

Subjects taught include maths, English, Kiswahili, science, social studies and Bible. Text books are a great necessity but rare at Patmos Junior which is challenging for both children and teachers.

STRATEGIC PLAN FOR DEVELOPMENT

A big challenge the school faces is how to make strategic investments.The school do not have enough savings to help it plan for its developmental needs. It may seem impractical for it to save since it is having a hard time trying to meet its expenses.For such reason,it cannot rely on budgets or develop a strategic plans.Therefore profits cannot be realized for the school to be self-sustainable unless it benefits from external financial resources.
Therefore the school would like to invest in the following areas:
1.Acquire land with adequate space for classrooms,administrative offices,kitchen,lavatories,and recreational activities.
2.Build permanent structures( preferably storey buildings to maximize space)
These investments improves the learning enviroment in effort to enhance the quality of education provided..Of course parents may be more inclined to pay higher fees for the improvement to the learning environments ,but they often want to see developments translate to better academic performances.
There are several ways that infrastucture developments could improve the delivery of education at the school .On the very basic level, many of the classrooms are inadequately partitioned.Students can hear everything being taught in the adjacent classrooms which is very distracting .Investing in proper partitioning of classrooms would allow the students to focus more on their lessons.
There is also a shortage of text books for the students to follow along.The teacher may only be able to lecture or lead a discussion on the subject.This makes it difficult to sufficiently cover all courses in the syllabus during regular school hours,hence why most students are taught later in the afternoon and during holidays. If these type of issues were resolved through improvement in the infrastructure to create more condusive learning environment,the school management can realize an increase in fees from able parents who may wish to enroll their children on the school. The key is to play an active role in strategic planning and participate in fund raising.It will ease the financial burden of financing the developments.Also when parents contribute financially ,it gives them a sense of ownership and responsibility for what is done.If donors are solely responsible for developments,it creates a spirit of dependency which is typically reflected by a very low school fee collection rate.For sustainable development it is paramount that the PTA is fully engaged in the process of strategic planning.