Challenges of teaching in slum schools

It’s not a big deal for primary school pupils in the slums coming to class with a gun or even engaging in sexual activities within the school premises.

In the slums, alcohol and sex are cheaper than food and the effects on children find their way to neighbouring schools.

For more than 25 years teaching in the heart of Kibera, a large slum synonymous with political violence, tear gas and gunshots, extreme poverty and high crime rate, retired teacher Leah Asego has seen it all.

Dealing with pupils from the slums, she has encountered their pain, struggle and bitter life experiences.

Many of the pupils live a life balanced between too little and nothing, and take education as an uncertain means to an end, she says.

“The pupils are left with no choice but to engage in other activities besides education, to make their dreams a reality. In the process, these activities ruin their education and life,” said Mrs Asego.

While teaching in Ayany Primary School, Kibera, Asego recalls meeting a member of a feared criminal gang right in her class. He was the one who carried the gang’s firearm.

“One morning, I was teaching Maths in Standard Seven when I noticed a boy dozing in class. I wanted to punish him but he said he would explain to me later why he was sleeping,” she narrated.

Gang member

“I was so shocked when, during break time, he came to my office with a gun and told me it was the reason. Apparently, the boy was part of a gang that would go robbing people all night and in the morning attend classes,” she continued.

The boy, who requested Asego to keep the information confidential, said the gang trusted him with the gun since police officers would not suspect a pupil in full school uniform would be a gangster.

“The gang was using the boy’s uniform to keep their firearm safe. The information now known to me was criminal, keeping or revealing it both meant harm to me, yet I was a counselling teacher and confidentiality was also at play,” Asego explained her dilemma.

The teacher, who was also residing in the same estate, said she was forced to come up with a plan to get the boy out of the gang safely and keep herself out of harm’s way at the same time.

“I asked the boy to gradually reduce the number of times he went out at night with the gang and gave him more homework to keep him busy. Later, I advised him to go to their rural home, and never return even during holidays,” she explained.

Pornography

When the boy was in Form Three, the teacher opened up to his parents on why the boy never wanted to come back to the city. Asego was to meet the boy many years later, well-established and working for a big company.

“He told me all the gang members were killed by police. I was glad I had helped him change,” she said with evident satisfaction.

According to Asego, both girls and boys in slums are at risk of failing to successfully complete their education. In one incident, the teacher said, a Standard Five boy would be lured to watch pornography with women whose husbands worked as security guards. The women would then abuse the boy sexually and he later turned on his sister.

“A girl in Class Two was being forced to have sex by his elder brother who was in Class Three. This happened every time their drunk father got home and would openly grab their mother under the children’s watch. The children would go under the bed.

Deadly secret

“It happened for many years before the girl finally admitted to the act after I noticed drastic deterioration in her health and academic performance,” she recounted.

Some of the girls, Asego said, would be offered to clients by their parents who sold illicit brew or engaged in prostitution. Some of the female pupils would have sexual encounters with their step-fathers, but their mothers would keep it a secret when they found out.

“Whenever a client came, a mother would generously offer her daughter if she was busy, or if the client demanded,” she said as she shared several such ordeals she had encountered.

“A teacher in a slum school who puts too much pressure on her pupils gets results, but they risk hurting themselves. The demographics of students in such school are so diverse and intricate,” she said.

Asego recalls how a student once disclosed to her how he had protected her from his gang, which intended to rob her as she returned home from school.

“He told me how he warned his gang not to attack me and followed me to my house to make sure I arrived safely,” she said.

In another part of the school, Eunice Onyango sees the extreme part of the life she lived many years back when she looks at her 792 pupils in Raila Odinga Educational Centre.

“Teaching in a slum school is completely different from being a teacher anywhere else. Patience and understanding are the most vital tools for a slum school teacher,” she said.

She recalls how Olympic Primary School was once attacked by residents who demanded that their children be taken in despite the school being full to capacity.

“Never in my life have I felt so much fear and panic. I was always looking over my shoulder and making sure I never stepped on anyone’s toes,” said Onyango.