Mary Njoroge, director of education for the Republic of Kenya, was scheduled to speak Saturday at the Good Counsel Convent in White Plains.
Njoroge was expected to speak from 9 to 11 a.m. at the convent at 52 North Broadway.
Njoroge began her career as a secondary school teacher and later worked as child psychologist. After five years in the schools, Njoroge was appointed to the primary education division of the Kenyan Ministry of Education in 1980 and subsequently served as the national coordinator for early childhood development and as director of basic education, retiring in 2006 after 26 years at the Ministry of Education.
As director of basic education, Njoroge played a critical role in the development of the Kenya Education Sector Support Program (2005”“2010), the bedrock of which is basic education. The highlight of Njoroge”™s career was overseeing the Abolition of School Fees Initiative in 2003. Kenya abolished all school fees and more than a million additional children came to school the next day. Now, nearly 2 million additional children have come into the primary school system, gender disparities have all but disappeared, and Kenya is widely heralded as an example of what is possible with universal free primary education.
Njoroge was scheduled to speak about the challenges and solutions to educating children in Kenya and other parts of the world. Additionally, participants were expected to learn how the United States is responding to the critical need for education in Africa from U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey.
The event sponsors were Westchester Results and Pace University.
Â
