Address by Ambassador Bob F. Jalang'o (former Ambassador of Kenya to the United Nations), On June 17, 2005 at Lansing, New York.

A few months ago, Mr. Kevin Clawson, President of Reach the Children charitable organization and who I have known for many years informed me about his friends in Lansing that were sponsoring the Partnership of African and Lansing Schools (PALS). Since then, I have learnt more about this ambitious community-based initiative whose goal is to support Sub-Saharan African (SSA) schools in improving their learning environments. Through my interactions with the founders of PALS, I was made aware of the collaborative role of Reach the Children.

The introduction of 8-4-4 education system in Kenya and the government's inability to construct adequate learning facilities especially for primary (elementary) schools have over recent years exerted extensive pressure on local communities to raise funds from meager resources to bridge the government's financial gap. This has resulted in primary schools with dilapidated infrastructure and classrooms made of mud walls and dirt floors; thus posing great danger and unhygienic conditions to the pupils and teachers. This was witnessed in one of the schools in 2001 when roofs of classrooms were blown and torn during a rain storm. Fortunately kids were not in the school at the time but the damage was extensive.

The new government in Kenya that was voted in office in 2003 introduced free and compulsory primary school education and this saw an influx of new arrivals by the millions (young and old) that aggravating an already overstretched situation. The sudden admission of such large numbers of new students without prior budgetary planning, forced schools to accept more students than the facilities could accommodate, resulting in kids being forced to sit under trees to learn. According to UNESCO, 1.5 million kids joined primary school when the program was introduced in 2003. In its report entitled, Challenges of Implementing Free Primary Education, UNESCO notes that “primary school head teachers are not joining in the celebration of free primary education but continue to complain of increased roles and responsibilities due to shortage of teachers. Whereas the internationally accepted teacher: pupil ratio is 1:45, many teachers in Kenya have classes of more than 60.

Moreover, the transition rate from primary (elementary) to secondary (high) schools is a pathetic 52%. This means that out of 514,400 who sat for grade 8 examinations in 2003, only 267,500 were admitted to Form 1 (grade 9- high school). Thousands of deserving kids with potential for higher education are unable to realize their dreams and ambitions due to lack of financial resources.

In its third fiscal year since taking office, the new government has allocated nearly $1.5billion to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology this year; nearly more than twice the amount of the next largest spending government Ministries; with the priority of seeing through the success of free primary education. Thus public expenditure on education averages 7% of GDP and is a huge 23% of total government expenditure. This is very commendable and as noted by the Minister of Education recently, "we appreciate what we got, though it may not be sufficient to cover all our needs."

Provision of adequate resources will enable the government to work towards achieving UN's Education For All (EFA) deadline of 2015 set at the World Education Forum in Dakar (Senegal) two and a half years ago. According to UNESCO, while many countries are on track, however on present trends, several more countries may not make it according to the conclusion of the 2002 Education For All Global Monitoring Report: Is the World on Track?

I have deliberately provided the above background and statistical information to sensitize the Lansing Community, Kenyans living around here and other benefactors to the underlying issues affecting education in Kenya, and by extension, in Sub Saharan African countries. I am therefore fully supportive of this initiative and the partnership between Reach the Children, Lansing community and Chulaimbo Community in Kenya to “create a school to school program initiative in the rural areas”. I further note with satisfaction that the pilot project will provide nutritional needs for the kids, instructional material; exchange of teachers and students; avenues for correspondence between the two communities; and possibly in future, establish support mechanisms for orphans from HIV/AIDS families.

If you forego one McDonald's hamburger or a cup of Starbuck's coffee, your contribution will go a long way to provide the much needed materials build to basic physical infrastructures, and in the words of one of the community's two Principals, provide an opportunity to “produce persons of Integrity, developed and with creative skills, self-reliant, equipped with godly virtues and having excellent academic certificates”.

Finally, I wish to express my sincere thanks and gratitude to the Lansing Community, to Cindy and Harold van Es, Chris Barrett and other founding members of PALS; and to all who have worked tirelessly for the realization of this noble educational initiative to provide opportunities to future African generations. As an Advisory Board member of Reach the Children, the project has my full blessings. I wish you all success during tonight's fund raiser nicknamed, “Raise the Roof”.