Uref Primary School, a partner of SU top in Ugunja District

Mr Marcos Migeri, the Director of University Relations remembers the first time he went to the school in early 2009. It was a depressing experience more so because the area has a lot economic potential.

“The pupils didn’t have chairs or benches and were seating on dusty floors. Even the teachers didn’t have enough chairs in the staffroom and some had to seat on desks. Some blackboards were broken. Pupils were exposed to elements,” Mr Migeri recalls.

“The top boy in KCPE the previous year had been admitted to Ambira Boys, a top provincial school in the region but could not afford to join the school. So he had joined a day school in the village. This was a blow to the morale of the pupils in Uref,” Mr Migeri said.

The University’s Community Outreach Program (COP) immediately adopted the school. With funding from students from Ratemar School in Spain, COP members spent a week in August 2009 making desks at a work camp.

Back in Nairobi, COP fund raised to get the top boy in KCPE in 2008 from the day school to Ambira. He joined Ambira in September 2009.

In December 2009, COP members were at Uref again to plaster classes. The local community was enthused. They marveled to see university students getting their hands dirty. It was a positive cultural shock.

Also in December 2009, the principal of Uref joined the University’s Diploma in Education Management. And three teachers from the school attended the teacher’s self image seminar organized by the University’s Centre of Education.

This collaboration seems to bear fruit. Uref came top in the Ugunja District 2010 KCPE results with a mean grade of 304.61 up from 290.63 in 2009. It also moved from position 5 to position 1 in the district.