Young learners need more than good grades to succeed in a changing workplace, the Java Foundation has said, urging companies to take a more active role in helping schools develop practical skills, leadership and strong values among children.
The foundation says learners should be exposed early to skills such as confidence, responsibility and leadership, which can shape how they perform and interact with others later in life.
The remarks came on Thursday during the launch of the Kuza Mentorship Manual, a Kenya Institute for Curriculum Development (KICD)-approved guide aimed at mentors working with learners in Grades 6 to 9.
The launch was held at Dagoretti North School, one of the institutions supported by the Java Foundation through its community programmes.
Java House Group Chief Executive Officer Priscilla Gathungu said businesses have an important role to play in helping schools prepare learners for a future workplace that continues to change.
She said schools already carry the major responsibility of teaching children, but need support from other sectors to give learners a broader set of skills and experiences.
“Schools are doing a great job imparting knowledge, and they are doing it under enormous pressure. We cannot expect them to prepare our children for the future without help. Corporates hold a wealth of knowledge earned over years of trial and error, and there is no reason for it to stay in our boardrooms. What the Kuza Mentorship Manual does is create a framework for passing valuable knowledge down so that anyone mentoring young minds knows what to cover, how to cover it, and what they learner should walk out with,” said Gathungu.
The Kuza Mentorship Manual is based on lessons from the Java Foundation’s Kuza Mentorship Programme, which was created to give learners practical life skills and open up opportunities in career development, leadership and talent growth.
Through the programme, learners are introduced to areas that complement what they receive through classroom teaching, while mentors are given guidance on how to structure their engagement with young people.
The mentorship initiative forms part of the Java Foundation’s wider community support programmes, which also include efforts to improve access to nutritious meals for schoolchildren.
The foundation works with Food For Education to provide daily hot and nutritious lunches to more than 3,000 learners.
Among the schools benefiting from the partnership are Dagoretti North School, Ngunyumu School in Korogocho and Kibos School for the Blind in Kisumu.
The foundation said the mentorship programme and its other community investments are part of efforts to support learners’ development and improve the opportunities available to them both in school and beyond.