University takes higher education to slum dwellers

A teacher monitors students as they work on tablets. [PHOTO: PHARES MUTEMBEI/STANDARD]

 

By Jeckonia Otieno

Nairobi, Kenya; Sometime in 2009, a Catholic missionary thought of taking university education to informal settlements.

Br Finbarr Murphy, who has worked in slums of Nairobi for over ten years, believed that slum residents needed a higher education programme - in their backyard, that will empower them and make them know their rights as envisaged in the Constitution.

About a year later, his dream has come to pass. Residents of Mathare and Korogocho are accessing university education on civil rights without having to leave their settings. The residents are undertaking a Diploma in Civic and Development Education.

Supreme law

The programme dubbed University Mtaani is run by Tangaza College’s Institute of Social Ministry in Missions (ISMM). Tangaza is a constitute college of Catholic University. The programme was designed after consultations between the college and residents of informal settlements.

The curriculum is tailored to meet needs of people in the settlements. Br Alberto Parise, director of ISMM, says the programme is a breakthrough for those who thought they would never step into a university. “Unless citizens are taught and informed of their rights and they own those rights, they will remain ignorant. It is just like putting new wine into old skins,” says Parise.

He poses; “The Constitution has new elements, but what about the people? Do they even know what it really talks about?”

The gap between what is envisaged in the supreme law and knowledge among people served acted as an impetus to tailor the course. Not lost to ISMM is the fact that there are many players in civic education, especially in slum areas but not much has been achieved.

“We felt that despite having many actors dealing with human rights, more needed to be done. We therefore embarked on a needs assessment exercise to find out what the people themselves would prefer,” says Parise. This saved the institute from operating from what they thought the people wanted. This has led to rejection of many programmes by those who are supposed to benefit from them.

Conventional modes

University Mtaani does not strictly follow conventional modes of teaching and learning. This does not mean that it completely deviates from the norm.  The number of contact hours with the lecturers is maintained like in any regular programme.

“This is during the induction for the learners when they get to be introduced to the textbooks that they use for the semester. The students, therefore, have at least eight hours of class when they delve deep into theory,” says Sarafina Otieno, a facilitator of the programme.

The programme utilises distance learning but emphasis is on how the students can apply knowledge they learn in communities where they live.  After induction, students are expected to attend community forums from where they gather problem solving skills. “Since most of the students are from slum areas, affording university education is a big challenge but there is sponsorship that caters for a maximum of Sh24,000 out of the full fees of Sh30,000 per semester,” said Otieno.

Master’s level

Nearly all students in the programme are under scholarship. The college is thinking of ways to develop the programme to Master’s level.

Laurryn Adhiambo, a student from Korogocho, says the programme helped her go back to school after 15 years.

“There is limited time for meeting lecturers. We, therefore, make use of computer technology.  We have to do a lot of research and be in constant touch with our course supervisers,” says Adhiambo, who is also a wife and a mother.

Parise says the programme is helping the university develop slums from within as opposed to pulling the students miles away to attend school.

Parise notes, “University has three functions: Teaching and learning, research and community service. This programme is focussing on three components and specific interest lies in community service.”

The learners have a small learning resource centre at Jonsaga, Huruma, from where they do their research and lessons for first two weeks of the semester.

During the period, students are taught eight hours each day. “The number of contact hours with the lecturers is maintained like in any regular programme. There are 18 weeks per semester. The two weeks are intensive with lectures going on for the whole day to ensure students are not disadvantaged,” says Otieno.

The resource centre saves students time and money since they do not have to travel to the main campus for learning materials.

Challenges

However, one of the challenges arising from the arrangement is that the resource centre is small.

The programme has 53 students. The number, however, is expected to grow. The students hope to further their education since there are plans to develop the programme into a Bachelor degree.

For Br Murphy who mooted the idea, “Readers are becoming leaders.”