Nanyuki: In an effort to address retrogressive cultural practices among pastoral communities, more than 25 Junior Secondary School (JSS) teachers in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) have been sensitized to become champions of the rights of a girl-child in their regions. Speaking during a two-day sensitization workshop in Nanyuki, courtesy of the Northern Rangeland Trust (NRT), a local organization, the teachers from northern Kenya highlighted that girls in pastoral areas continued to lag behind in education due to cultural practices, including early and forced marriages, Female Genital Mutilation, teen pregnancy, and poverty, hence hindering them from prospering.
According to Kenya News Agency, Judy Akeyo, a teacher from West Pokot and one of the workshop participants, shared the challenges faced by girls in these communities. "We undergo many challenges; our girls are married-off at a tender age, outlawed female cut coupled with movement from one area to another in search of pasture and water, this hampers access to education," Akeyo stated. She explained that the sensitization initiative would promote learning in pastoral areas and minimize school drop-out cases associated with regressive cultural practices.
Marsabit County concurred that raising awareness about the challenges girls undergo would be a major step in helping to overcome them. NRT Programme Officer, Elijah Wachanguru, noted that working with teachers in promoting education was a holistic approach through which they retained learners in school. He further revealed that they support learners acquiring technical skills after completing high school in an initiative dubbed 'Ujuzi manyatani.'