By Mary Mwendwa
A woman chairing a board is not a common gender role in many settings. It is a position that has been held by men for a long time. Those women who get to hold such positions have their own test of challenges.
But, one courageous and brave lady has defied odds to lead a school in the sprawling Eastlands of Nairobi.
The noisy Matatus, narrow roads and many youths idling along the narrow half tarmacked roads lead you to a school that its board is bring chaired by a woman.
Holding her phone and a handbag tacked in her arms, dressed in a black leather jacket, a smiley Elizabeth Gichuki is conversant with every corner of the school.
She rushes to the kitchen to check on children meals before she settles down for this interview .
Elizabeth Gichuki, is not your ordinary lady, she is a board chair of Morrison Primary School in East of Nairobi.
Her charming smile and soft voice reflect her calm character which she says she has learnt to have when dealing with issues at her school.
She knows the wrath of a drunk, angry, sick and a hungry parent. All these kind of parents she has dealt with at her school.
Most parents come from nearby informal settlements of Mugunda and Kiambiu.
“It is not easy to be a board chair at a school like this one, this is a post that is usually male dominated. But, I was selected and I took it with open arms .It is a voluntary post but worthy.” she says.
Gichuki, a mother of two confesses that she has to leave her clothes design business more often to be able to attend to matters at Morrison school, a public primary school.
The school is located in Bahati Estate and hosts street children from a nearby Makadara children Centre.
“This school is special because we give a chance to former street children to learn and get to realize their dreams.”
There is no clear data on how many street children we have in Kenya but the fact remains they are increasing in number day by day.
Her journey of being a first woman board chair at the school, began in 2016 when the school was recording very poor results during the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education ( KCPE).
“School enrollment was at 317 when I was elected as board chair by parents and now it stands at 488. It was a tough task to convince parents to retain their children in school and to bring on board new ones. “Gichuki narrates.
She has also made the mean score of the school during national exams to improve. “I want to see this school top the entire Makadara Division, Iam working hard together with the teachers and pupils to achieve this.”
Gichuki emphasizes on discipline among pupils, she says that she urges teachers to be on the lookout of any indiscipline acts among pupils to bring them out so that they sort immediately.
“Discipline and good performance go hand in hand, none of them can exists without the other.”
Together with other partners they are renovating classrooms of her school to offer a child friendly environment to the pupils.
“This school was neglected, parents from Bahati had transferred their children from here and the government was planning to close down the school. How can a school close yet we have children from streets and other low income areas in need of education.”
Kenya government is offering free primary education and therefore budget allocations to schools are given per head.
“ I assist in managing funds for the school, the money is never enough because most parents from this school are poor and cannot cater for very basic items like uniforms for their children. I usually squeeze my budget to fit in the needs of the school.’’
Gichuki is also tasked together with other members of the board to ensure parents and teachers are comfortable with the running of the school.
“ Iam passionate about what I do, Iam not paid for this work but every day when I wake up I know I have a task ahead of me.”
Morrison primary is a school where many parents are single and a good number are living with HIV /AIDS virus. Gichuki confirms that she goes beyond her mandate to do counseling to the parents so that children get education.
“At times when we call for a meeting I end up doing a lot of counseling to these parents, some have lost hope completely and they therefore neglect their children.” She shares.
Gichuki is worried about the school feeding program which has now ended.” world Food Program has ended their feeding program to public primary schools now . Many children were going to school because of the food, even others could carry the food home to share with family . Now we do not know what will happen because parents are expected to pay for it yet many cannot afford.”
on probing further on how she manages her job as a board chair and family life, she reveals, “ Iam a single mother of two girls, one is at university and the other in high school therefore I have ample time to do my stuff.”
“My phone is always on and Iam always on standby In case of any issue at the school I rush there.”
