Play Like a Girl by Ellie Roscher

Author:Ellie Roscher
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Play Like a Girl
ISBN: 9781632280589
Publisher: Viva Editions
Published: 2017-03-16T04:00:00+00:00

The KCSE is a test all secondary students in Kenya take. It takes the entire month of November for the students to complete. Eight subjects are covered across twenty-seven tests. The girls wait until February, sometimes as late as April to receive a composite score out of 100. That number will determine whether they can go on to get a certificate, diploma, or degree in post-secondary education. With a D−, D, or D+, students are eligible for certificate courses that tend to lead to low-paying jobs like catering or secretarial work. A C− or C allows the students to apply to two-year diploma courses. A C+ or above qualifies them to apply to four-year degree courses, but the test score doesn’t guarantee a spot. There are currently seventy thousand openings in Kenya’s public universities each year, so if one hundred thousand students score a C+ or above, they have to compete for the available spots. The students apply to a certain department at a particular school and then wait to hear if they are accepted. A student may be accepted into the school but placed in a different department studying an unexpected academic discipline.

This is all assuming, of course, that the student can pay the tuition. The KGSA students cannot pay for secondary, let alone post-secondary, education. So if you ask a KGSA student about her goal on the KCSE, she will say a B, because a B or above qualifies her for government loans and scholarships.

The lab at KGSA was built too late in 2009 to benefit the first group of students taking their KCSE. The building didn’t meet the regulations required to host the test, so the 2009 graduates carried their desks across Kibera to St. Gabriel’s, a recognized high school. It was a twenty-five minute walk. “The classrooms had open windows so mosquitoes came in and bit us,” Linet remembered. “There was sewage in front of the classroom, so it smelled. Not great testing conditions.”

Once the twenty girls got settled, Teka and Abdul gathered them together before the test to help them get centered. A few of the girls, Linet and Rose included, had been with Abdul from the very beginning, four years before.

Abdul just said, “Look, I know this was not an ideal four years. It was not what you thought secondary school should be. But I don’t want you to forget the great accomplishments you have been able to achieve. Look at where you are at right now. Look at what you have been through. We are all incredibly proud of you. Regardless of what happens, you still have a family and a community at KGSA. Just because you are done with exams doesn’t mean you need to leave this family. We will figure this out together. It doesn’t stop here.”

Twenty girls took the KCSE and graduated from KGSA. Then they waited for the results.

Abdul said, “The strength of this whole institution is the girls themselves. Their commitment makes me want to do more. It’s always sad when a group graduates.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.