Iltolish Mara Primary School is located in the Trans Mara district of Kenya, roughly 250km (155mi) west of Nairobi and seven km (4.3mi) from &Beyond Kichwa Tembo Tented Camp and &Beyond Bateleur Camp.
In 2007, the community came together to build the first classrooms and teachers accommodation that would create a primary school for their children. The responsibility for supplying teachers lies with the Government, and they fulfilled their commitment and a teacher was employed for each classroom. Iltolish Mara Primary school quickly grew, receiving children from all over the dispersed community of around 2 000 residents. As the school aimed to offer complete primary education and pre-school facilities, the number of available classrooms became an issue. Not only because of the cramped conditions, but also the number of teachers allocated to the school. The community is incredibly committed to the education of their children and they decided to employ additional teachers to work at the school. This was a cost taken on by the community so that the 200 pupils enrolled could be divided and taught by school grade. To overcome the challenge of space, all ages of pre-school children were joined together, and the local church became host to two teachers and their learners.
Through close partnership with the community, and the generosity of donors, Africa Foundation was able to support the school to reach a more permanent solution to their challenge of classrooms. Funds raised enabled the construction of five new classrooms for the school, providing one for each pre-school age group, and the school grades being taught at the church.
Further aiming to optimise the learning capacity of the children attending school, &Beyond recently assisted in the launch a new feeding programme at Iltolish Mara Primary and also Saparingo School. The programme will enable the daily provision of porridge to children, many of whom attend school without having had anything to eat.
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