The Samburu are nomadic pastoralists who move with their livestock in search of grazing. While government primary schools are available in some remote areas, they are scarce in Namunyak Community Conservancy. As most families lack the resources to send their children to schools far away, many children do not get the opportunity to access education.
The Nomadic Samburu schools' vision is to create a first-of-its-kind school system that celebrates the Samburu's indigenous culture, heritage, and nomadic lifestyles, while honouring the landscape and biodiversity. The schools are designed to be mobile with the ability to be collapsed and moved to where the Samburu move, or be moved into a safe storage at the end of the term dates.
The children wear school outfits based on the Samburu traditions and shelves made from local resources, accommodating the full range of Montessori materials. A food programme is also in place, thus allowing the children to have a healthy meal and more time in school.
The initiative started in 2018 with a community engagement programme to pilot transferable Montessori schools in the Namunyak Conservancy area, in Northern Kenya.
The objectives of the Samburu Nomadic School Initiative are to:
- Create a long-term sustainable model for educating children in the Samburu community, with the goal of preserving the magnificent cultural and natural heritage of the Samburu people and lands.
- Ensure that agency for change is in the hands of the on-site population. The project is founded on the principle of ‘help me to do it by myself’. Change will not be imposed but the ‘inspiration for change’, ‘guidance for change’ and ‘tools for change’ will be provided by participants and stakeholders with the project.
- Ensure that the children receive a quality Montessori education that supports individual development in the context of community. When the initiative was established, two experienced teachers from Corner of Hope moved to the remote region as mentor teachers, to support a team of four newly trained Samburu teachers.
Now, a team of 14 qualified Montessori teachers (7 men and 7 women) is based in the Namunyak Conservancy, with tented classrooms in the Ntaparani, Tintil, Lengusaka, and Louwai Obo settlement areas, to work with the children and parents in moveable Montessori environments.
These 4 Nomadic Montessori schools serve pupils aged 3-6 in Namunyak Conservancy and have provided over 1,000 children early childhood development. In 2024 alone, there were 185 children enrolled across the 4 Nomadic Montessori schools with nearly an equal split in genders- 96 boys and 89 girls A fifth Mobile Montessori school to serve children aged 3-6 is currently in the works.
There are 3 teachers pursuing 3-6 International Diploma courses and 4 teachers are pursuing 6-12 International AMI Diplomas. The teachers with AMI diplomas will use their gained knowledge and skills to support the other teachers on site.
Under the mentorship of Corner of Hope teachers Judy Mugambi and Terry Koskei, the Samburu Montessori school has continued to thrive and exhibit marked improvement in quality of teaching. The children within the settlement areas of Ntaparani, Tintil and Lengusaka attend school on regular basis and there is huge community support towards the four schools.
The Samburu initiative is realized in partnership with the Sarara Foundation, where education is one of the core pillars to support the nomadic Samburu from birth to maturity. It has been awarded 1,874 bursaries for further schooling and tertiary education.
