Tayari - Getting Children Ready to LearnMawewa Preschool is currently part of an RTI International program involving 75,000 three to six-year-olds in 1,500 Kenyan early childhood education centers. This year, we began integrating a research-based preschool curriculum named Tayari, Swahili for ready. The program “aims to develop a cost-effective, scalable model of ECE that ensure 3-6 years old children in Kenya are mentally, physically, socially, and emotionally ready to start and succeed in primary school” (African Population and Health Research Center). The program will run through 2018.

Our preschool teachers have been in training for several months. Aside from formal training, they receive student materials, teacher guides, and ongoing coaching support. The training has already helped teachers make important decisions to enhance learning. For example, we have rescheduled the Introduction to the Swahili Language course from 2016 Term 3 to 2017 Term 1, so our young students will not forget their lessons over the long holiday.

Tayari preschool curriculum focuses on language acquisition, stimulation of the learning process, critical thinking, building active classroom participation, and constructive play. The training enforces the importance of teachers reading aloud to their class since many children do not experience this at home.

As part of the training, Tayari consultants do onsite evaluations of teachers and children. Mr. Godfrey Omondi of Tayari recently confirmed that Mawewa School is on track with the curriculum.The results and lessons learned from Kenya’s model will help to inform other countries and to advance the cost-effectiveness of future early childhood education programs. eduKenya and Mawewa School are honored to be part of this innovative program which will help young children worldwide.