Education Programs
Western education provides the Maasai community, with tools to protect itself and 
its land. However, where western education replaces traditional education systems, where for example, young Maasai men are forced to chose between secondary school and the cultural education received through warrior training, formal education can in some cases become corrosive of the very society and culture that it has to potential to protect. When schools are inferior, Maasai students can receive partial and inadequate education that removes them from their community but does not prepare them for success finding work outside. If there is a single consensus emerging in Maasailand, it is that the surest way to end social, economic and political marginalization is by creating and implementing culturally competent educational opportunities in Maasailand. Education also appears to provide the best opportunity for the modernized world to learn from the Maasai community about aspects of Maasai culture, such as strategies for living sustainably. For all of these reasons, the work of the Maasai Community Partnership Project is prioritizes education.
Formal Education and Cultural Survival
The Kenyan education system includes eight years of primary school, four of secondary school, and four of university. Passage into secondary and university education is dependent upon passage of two standardized exams administered nationwide to students during the final years of primary and secondary school—these exams are offered one time only and failure blocks a student from continuing to secondary school. The country does not have sufficient schools for all of its children, and rural areas are particularly under-served. While primary tuition is now free, boarding schools are not, and all children must pay for uniforms, books and other expenses. Standardized curriculum promotes the English language to the exclusion of mother tongues, and is typically critical of pastoral lifestyles. All of this and more impose challenges on Maasai families desiring education for their children. In spite of these challenges, Maasai people are desperate for education, as an illiterate community that cannot read land contracts or political news cannot protect its own interests.
Children at Siana Primary School, Kenya
Maasai Education and Leadership Center
To facilitate the development of education opportunities in Maasailand, the MCPP established the Maasai Education, Research and Conservation Institute, located on 10 acres near the Talek River, adjacent to the Maasai Mara Game Reserve. In June, 2010, we completed construction of a library, office, classroom and media center complex. The overall camp plan is based on the design of students of the Ecosa Institute, Prescott AZ, and it makes use of local building materials. The center is used for Prescott College field studies and is designed to ultimately provide office, conference and classroom space, as well as a home for a growing library on land rights in Kenya.
Scholarships:
We have continued to link friends in the U.S. with other Maasai students needing scholarships. At present, our project is funneling to 5 university students (all boys,) 16 secondary students at Narok High, St. Mary’s Secondary, and Ole Tipis Secondary, (8 girls, 8 boys,) and 30 primary students (24 girls and 6 boys,) at St. Mary’s Academy, Olive Academy, and Siana Primary. We also were able to help with $6,500 in emergency scholarships in Narok and Kajiado for children in desperate need of gap funding. All recipients of these scholarships are completely without other options and would not be able to attend school without this assistance. Care is given to ensure that scholarships are given to children who are committed to their education, and that they are distributed widely throughout Maasailand, especially in rural areas.
Maasailand University
Ultimately, the challenge of creating educational opportunities in Maasailand will be met with the establishment of a university in Maasailand. We envision the University becoming a center for research into issues of Indigenous rights, cultural survival, environmental conservation, and models of social change. The Maasai Leadership University will provide a core curriculum relevant to Maasai and other indigenous African leadership, education and cultural and environmental conservation.
