Eight primary schools in Kajulu, Kisumu have benefitted from the Nation Media Group’s (NMG) Newspapers in Education (NiE) programme courtesy of Kisumu Water and Sanitation Company (KIWASCO). The second phase of the programme was launched on 8th March 2023 at Kianja Primary School.
Speaking during the launch, Mrs. Eldah Odongo, Head of Corporate Affairs & Communication in KIWASCO said that this is a Corporate Social Responsibility initiative aimed at giving back to the Community in which the company operates in. “We want to appreciate the Kajulu community for allowing us to abstract water for treatment from their resource,” she said. Mrs. Odongo further invited the community to join the company in celebrating World Water Day whereby KIWASCO staff will be planting trees at Kajulu Catchment area. Being the International Women’s Day, she concluded by encouraging the girl child to give affirmation to themselves every day when they wake up.
Representing KIWASCO Managing Director, Mr. Nicholas Moseti reinforced to the 8 beneficiary schools how lucky they are to have the opportunity to access revision materials through the newspapers. He further gave the commitment that the Company will continue to facilitate the programme and even expand it further in future, depending on its successes. He concluded by the famous Koffi Annan quote that says Education is the greatest equalizer of our time and that is why KIWASCO desires to have a positive impact to the society through promotion of Education.
In this partnership, KIWASCO is the donor while NMG is the implementing partner. NMG will deliver Daily Nation and Taifa Leo newspapers daily to Kindu Primary and Secondary Schools, Obwolo Primary and Secondary Schools, Kianja Primary School, Okok Mixed Secondary School, Ong’adi Primary School and Rae Kajulu Primary School.
Speaking during the launch, Mr. Clifford Machoka, Head of External Affairs in NMG said that the NiE has attracted a lot of interest among pupils. “The programme has gone a long way in improving the reading culture and performance of languages among students. It is a good initiative by NMG and when embraced well, the schools will move in the right direction,” Mr. Machoka remarked. He went further to congratulate the five beneficiary schools from Phase 1 for their improved performance in the National Examinations. He challenged the schools present to embrace tree planting and growing in order to conserve the environment in their contribution in the on-going narrative on climate change.
During the launch event, pupils and students from the eight beneficiary schools demonstrated talents in reciting poems, shahiri, news presentations and dance. During the session on explaining what the NiE programme entails, the pupils’ minds were jogged on their mastery of Swahili Language and here they performed well. They were also taken through how to turn the newspapers into a learning materials. The accompanying teachers were also guided on how to assess the students’ performance.
The NiE programme has been approved by the Ministry of Education and is designed to strengthen the culture of reading while bridging the gap between the school and the real world. The project seeks to address the curriculum needs of a million students by the year 2030.
