A Facilitator’s Reflection on the Teachers’ Town Hall
My work as a teacher trainee in Kenya’s frontier counties like Marsabit, Turkana, Samburu, Wajir, Isiolo and Garissa, has taught me to appreciate the deep resilience and innovation that pulses through classrooms.
Frontier counties, for context, are geographically remote, economically marginalized regions bordering neighbouring countries in the Eastern and Northern parts of Kenya. These areas often face insecurity, harsh terrain, poor infrastructure, and historical underinvestment in education. Many schools lack basic facilities, reliable internet, and trained teachers. Yet amid these challenges, teachers are creating extraordinary impact, building learning environments with grit, love, and resourcefulness. I facilitated the Teachers’ Town Hall at the Frontier Counties EdTech Summit and witnessed these stories firsthand. The dialogue was deeply grounded in lived realities. Teachers from the North Eastern region took centre stage, and their voices echoed a truth we must all reckon with: change is already happening; we just need to pay attention. The discussion areas prompted teachers to share their challenges and thoughtful integration of technology in the classrooms. The discussion areas were:
- Teachers as designers “Tech it your way”
- Teachers as Researchers “Evidence Speaks”
- Teachers as Policy Shapers
- The Missing Piece: Parents
- The Urgency and need of Social Emotional Learning: Aligning Mind, Heart, and Action
Teachers as Designers
Mr. Jamal Aden (Boystown primary and Junior school) shared how he restructured his lessons around limited electricity hours and learner availability. He runs outdoor literacy sessions in the early morning and uses storytelling circles to teach comprehension and critical thinking. His digital lessons are supplemented with printed materials produced using a community printer borrowed from a local youth group.
Lokho Daki (Garissa primary and Junior School) described repurposing old mobile phones into basic learning tools; pre-loading them with Kiswahili songs and digital readers for learners with no access to textbooks. It was a reminder that design in frontier regions means working with what you have, not what you wish you had.
Teachers as Researchers
Asha Yussuf (Iftin primary and Junior school) shared how she began tracking the performance of her lower primary students after introducing hands-on learning using bottle tops and stones to teach counting and addition. Within three weeks, she recorded a 30% improvement in comprehension and retention among struggling learners or time takers.
She didn’t have a research grant or formal training in data analysis. What she had was curiosity, intentional tracking, and a desire to improve outcomes. In regions where academic research rarely reaches, teachers like her are leading bottom-up learning innovation-gathering, interpreting, and acting on evidence every day.
Teachers as Policy Shapers
Several educators from the frontier region questioned why they’re often excluded from policy development, especially regarding Competency-Based Education (CBE) reforms and digital learning strategies. One teacher asked,
“Why are tech tools and CBE materials designed in Nairobi without input from those of us in the field?”
Their call was clear: policies should be co-created with the people implementing them. Frontier teachers are not just implementers—they are frontline strategists, with critical insights on what works in low-resource, culturally complex settings.
Parental Involvement
Family engagement emerged as a critical, often overlooked factor. In the frontier region, low parental literacy and cultural barriers can distance families from school life. Garissa Primary and Junior School is innovating by engaging parents during market days through community leaders and local radio. Another is using translated visual guides to explain CBE concepts to parents and caregivers. Teachers are stepping into new roles not only as educators but as mediators between home and school. Their message was powerful: if we want better learner outcomes, we must bring parents into the learning journey.
The Urgency and Need for Social-Emotional Learning
One of the most urgent and moving conversations happened when I asked, “How do we expect learners to perform when they come to school carrying emotional pain we never ask about?”
For many educators in the frontier region, Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) is still an unfamiliar term but a deeply familiar need. Learners in frontier areas face trauma from drought, conflict, displacement, and early marriage. Teachers themselves navigate burnout, isolation, and systemic neglect. We must prioritise more structured SEL sessions for both learners and teachers because true education goes beyond academics. It nurtures the mind (cognitive development), the heart (emotional well-being), and action (behaviour, empathy, and resilience). Embedding SEL into daily practice through check-ins, reflective storytelling, and peer support could transform classrooms into spaces of healing, not just instruction.
My Take Away
This Townhall made one thing clear: the classroom is not broken, it’s evolving in ways we can all learn from. Technology is only part of the equation. The real innovation lies in teacher agency, community connection, and context-specific design. The sooner we recognize frontier teachers as designers, researchers, and policy actors, the faster we move toward equitable, transformative education.
Let’s stop prescribing solutions and start building trust with those already solving problems.
Hillary Atindah is a Digital Literacy and Education Equity Advocate who believes that every child deserves an opportunity to thrive in an increasingly digital world. Connect with Hillary on LinkedIn.
