The Centre Director for Character Education Program, Peter Kingori, facilitated a mentorship training for students’ peer mentors that was organized by the leadership of Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KESSHA) in Kabete Sub-County. The event was hosted at PCEA Kanjeru Booth High School and brought together student peer mentors from over 12 secondary schools in the Sub-County.
As adolescents grow into caring and responsible citizens, they require significant support from caring adults and peers who act as good role models, peer counselors, and mentors. The value of a good mentor is immeasurable, as they help adolescents discover their life purpose, develop good character, nurture talents and abilities, and inspire academic achievement, among other positive outcomes.

In modern school settings, there is a clear need for stakeholder collaboration in educating for character and providing student mentorship to address the increasing rate and multifaceted issues affecting institutions. These issues include a poor reading culture, unhealthy boy-girl relationships, negative peer pressure, low student self-esteem, drug and substance abuse, and student engagement in crime and violence.
Peter’s presentation focused on introducing peer mentors in schools, addressing emerging issues in schools, understanding student behaviors, and fostering social-emotional learning skills within the school community. The discussion highlighted the importance of building positive relationships, discovering one’s noble purpose, inculcating values in the school community, and developing support systems that aid individual emotional growth.
The co-presenter, Lydiah Minayo, a certified counselor, shared insights on the characteristics of a good peer mentor, the roles of a peer mentor, the benefits of mentorship, and the skills needed to be an effective peer mentor. Throughout the sessions, student peer mentors were engaged in self-reflection activities, including moral dilemma discussions, group discussions, and partner chats. They were also encouraged to cultivate empathy, practice effective communication, be sincere and trustworthy, and share personal experiences that can positively influence their peers. The training concluded with heartfelt testimonials as peer mentors expressed their commitment to offering guidance to their peers on moral, social, academic, and emotional issues, while also contributing unique perspectives in peer interactions.

The Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL) together with the School Principals and teachers in some of our Character Oriented Schools were privileged to host Adam Seldom, UK -based teacher and author. Adam was on journey to understand what makes a good school and the purpose of education as he is writing a book that its titled “Around the World in 80 Schools”. At CCL, we champion the development of good character that helps the learners to flourish in life beyond the school. Accompanied by the Director of Character Education Programme, Peter Kingori and Justina Ndunge, Programme Assistant from CCL; Adam visited 3 public Secondary Schools namely Ruai Boys Secondary School, Dandora Secondary School and Buruburu Girls Secondary School. The visit included a series of interviews with the school principals, teachers and students majoring on how the school teaches character, school culture and identity, and how the school shapes behavior and the wider educational development of the child. Additionally, the visitors spent some time as they attended classroom lessons with an intent to deepen their understanding on how teachers integrate values such as honesty, diligence, caring and respect during subject lessons.

Notably, Principals shared valuable insights on why educating for character and academic excellence are intertwined and inseparable. At Ruai Boys Secondary School, Principal and teachers attributed teaching of character and values to students modelling good behavior and excellent performance. They shared a story of hope and success by giving an example of the top students who scored grade A- and the most improved students in the last 2 years in
national examination. The schools have documented several Character Promising Practices including virtue of the week initiative, branding of school vision, mission, motto and core values, and integration of values during subject lessons.

At Dandora Secondary School, Principal shared his personal perspective on the purpose of education and stated that ‘a great school should aim to bring up a holistic child who is competitive in academics but has admirable character.’ He attributed teaching of character within the school to an improvement in the number of students who qualified to join university after they sat for national examination as he compared KCSE results for the past two years. This included 12 students in 2023 to 31 students in 2024. One noticeable activity
which the school have used in teaching character is the ‘adopt a tree and tag a virtue’ initiative.

At Buruburu Girls Secondary School, CCL team together with Adam were impressed on how teachers integrate values during subject lessons as they attended Kiswahili and Christian Religious Education lessons. Besides that, several classes have written their classroom values on the wall and students are keen to practice and model the virtues. Additionally, school culture includes an aspect of identifying a key virtue from distinguished visitors and
planting a tree that it’s tagged with the virtue and name of the visitor. Students tend to inculcate those virtues as they take care of the trees.

In each school, Adam delivered a speech to the students, offering valuable insights on how to be successful as a student. Key points of his message included having resilience and effort, focusing on what matters, early study and revision, developing a reading culture, having interest and values over wealth and modelling gratitude.

It takes a village to raise a moral child! As adolescents and youth grow up to become caring and responsible citizens, they require significant caring adults who acts as good role models and mentors. The value of a good mentor is immeasurable as they help the adolescents and youth to discover their life purpose, nurture talents and abilities, inspire career growth and
live a meaningful life besides other positive outcome.

“Good mentors offer priceless advice that comes from their own experiences – both successes and failures. They teach us, they guide us, they encourage us, and they increase our chances for success in life. Every kid and every adult should have mentors,” Dr. Lorraine.

With this background, the Centre for Character and Leadership in collaboration with East African Cables donated 500 tree seedlings and facilitated a mentorship program for adolescents and youth during a Mentorship and Tournament event, held at Enkasiti Primary School, Kajiado County.

Oganized by Hon. Joyce Yiapaso Sunte and the community leadership, the event brought together sports team including Ereteti FC, Enkasiti Queens and adolescent students who participated in tree growing, sports competition and character-building mentorship program.

Speaking during the event, Margaret Kiprono, Director of Environment and Service Program urged the participants to embrace the adopt a tree and tag a virtue initiative as it involves the participants to plant, adopt and tag the trees with virtues which they aim to nurture in life as the trees grow. Notably, Hon. Sunte planted a tree and was tagged; generosity; demonstrating her aspirations and quality of being kind and generous to the local community.

Recognizing the unique needs of young women and adolescent girls, a Mother to Girl Talk; session was organized and facilitated by women leaders. The session provided a safe space for young women and girls to discuss issues specific to their growth and empowerment.

Towards the end, the winning sport teams were awarded with trophies and all members were appreciated for the active participation. “I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the teams who participated and those who made the tournament successful,” said Hon. Sunte.

The Centre Director for the Character Education Programme, Peter King’ori, gave a keynote address to the school Principals and teachers during an open day on ‘Teacher Induction, Mentorship and Coaching (TIMEC) Programme’. The mentorship event brought together over 70 School Principals and teachers selected as the first cohort of Mentors and Mentees in an effort to institutionalize the TIMEC programme in Secondary Schools and Primary Schools in Embakasi Central Sub County. The event was hosted at Edelvale Primary School on May 24, 2024 and was coordinated by the office of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Sub County Director and Regional County Director, Nairobi.

The occasion was graced by TSC Chairperson, Dr. Jamleck Muturi. Speaking during the event, Dr. Muturi reminded school Principals and teachers that they are called to serve as he said ‘serve God’s purpose and serve your generation.’ He further urged the school administrators to avoid the shame and bad character that comes with power, money and possessions.

In his Keynote address titled ‘Application of Induction, Mentorship and Coaching in the Teaching Service’, Peter King’ori emphasized on the need of structured mentorship in the teaching profession. ‘Teachers require support systems to manage the challenges associated with globalization, social dynamics and technological changes due to their effect on people’s conduct and professionalism,’ he said. He expressed that a professional teacher should possess moral character and performance character beside having moral sensitivity, moral judgement, moral motivation and consistently modelling ethical actions. He urged the mentors and mentees to strive to become servant leaders and good moral exemplars who can be emulated by other teachers and learners within the school community and beyond.

“Good mentors offer priceless advice that comes from their own experiences – both successes and failures. They teach us, they guide us, they encourage us, and they increase our chances for success in life. Every kid and every adult should have mentors,” Anonymous.

The Teachers Service Commission is committed to institutionalize the TIMEC Policy in learning institutions in order to enhance teachers professional conduct and performance in the teaching service. You can read more about the TIMEC Policy here

The Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL) had the privilege of hosting a day-long leadership and mentorship training session at Dandora Secondary School. Over 70 members of the student council from this esteemed Public, Mixed Day Secondary School, situated in Nairobi County, participated in this transformative event.

At the heart of CCL’s leadership and mentorship program for student council members lies the servant-leadership model that emphasizes on ethical decision-making, sense of community building, and holistic character development. Student councils serve as vital links between the school administration, teachers, and students, that contribute to a conducive learning environment within the school community.

The training sessions were interactive and educational, covering topics such as servant leadership, virtue development, and the pivotal role of student leaders in supporting the school management. A notable exercise led by the facilitator was a virtue-reflection session, where participants identified their most and least developed character traits and crafted personalized improvement plans. Emphasizing character development’s importance in enhancing leadership capacity, students were encouraged to cultivate virtues like noble purpose, humility, responsibility, and courage.

Cooperative learning activities engaged students in team tasks, such as defining the roles of School Captain, deputies, prefects, and other leadership positions, aligning them with the school’s vision, mission and core values. Discussions also delved into leadership qualities, role models, and conflict resolution techniques, alongside strategies for emotional regulation.

The training culminated in a circle session where student leaders pledged to apply the virtues they learned as echoed by their testimonials.
“I’ll work on my least developed virtues such as integrity and forgiveness in order to become an effective leader;
“I have learnt to be a good mentor and I will commit myself to mentor other students in my class.”

The training was facilitated by the Centre’s Director Mr. Peter King’ori, together with Concepta Muthoni. In attendance was the school principal, deputy principal among other teachers.

The Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL) collaborates with schools to provide mentorship training sessions to students in order to help them excel in their studies and develop virtues in their pathway to success. The mentorship training sessions include academic excellence i.e. study habits and finishing strong, reading culture, relationships, drugs and substance abuse, social emotional competencies and character building. The mentorship sessions have produced numerous positive outcomes, from raising esteem, encouraging healthier behaviors, improving social and emotional development and improved performance in academics.

CCL staff has been facilitating the mentorship training sessions in various secondary schools across the country. The topics include developing positive study habits and target setting; drug and substance abuse prevention; handling negative peer pressure and managing social media; sexual relationship and character building; and personality and career guidance among others. The sessions aimed at encouraging the students to adopt a healthy lifestyle that benefit them to lead flourishing lives that significantly provide an authentic sense of purpose and meaning.

During the sessions, the students were trained on how to inculcate character traits and virtues such as integrity, noble purpose, gratitude, teamwork, self-control, courage and forgiveness among others. CCL character building and mentorship model gives an opportunity to the students to practice social emotional and leadership skills such as being good communicators, resource builders, visionaries, problem solvers and role models. The delivery approach included interactive group discussions, moral dilemma discussions, visual aids, role plays, service learning, team building and a variety of other innovative teaching techniques to keep the participants wholly involved in the session. Towards the end of the mentorship sessions, students were given an opportunity to ask questions which were answered by the trainers and fellow students.

The Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL) was  privileged to conduct a one-day leadership training to a group of 55 members of the student council from St. Francis Girls’ High School, Mang’u. St. Francis is a girls boarding secondary school located in Gatundu North Sub-County with a population of over 1000 learners. The school is driven by ‘toil for sound character and knowledge’ as its motto. Indeed, knowledge without character is dangerous. This calls for educators to integrate in learning the initiatives that foster character and virtue development among the learners.

CCL leadership program for the members of student council provides sessions that are geared to develop their leadership skills based on servant-leadership model – a leadership philosophy that prioritizes ethical decision making, the building of community and the optimal development of all involved. The Student councils in schools are an extension of school management roles. The elected members of the student councils act as an eye or a link between the administration, teachers and students. They support in the development and maintenance of a conducive environment for learning within the school community.

During the training, students were engaged through interactive and educative sessions which included servant leadership and virtue development, role of student leaders in supporting school management as well as managing and resolving conflicts in schools.

Speaking during the training, the facilitator urged the students to strive in developing passion in leadership as he reminded them the words of John Maxwell who once said ‘a great leader’s courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position.” He added that a leader must have a passion for the mission; passion for change; passion for people; passion for personal excellence; and passion for honoring God.

Throughout the sessions, the participants were engaged on interactive group discussions which included moral dilemma discussions, partner chat and individual reflection scenarios. As a result, students were able to identify their leadership strengths and weaknesses as well as develop personalized leadership improvement plan. In addition, they were able to develop an action plan which will help them to address the issues which are affecting negatively their school culture and climate. The issues included negative peer pressure, stealing, rebellious attitude among the students, noise making and poor time management.

Towards the end of the training, the School Principal shared the closing remarks and emphasized on the need for having a willing heart in leadership. She affirmed that ‘a willing heart sees a thousand opportunities while the unwilling heart has a thousand excuses.” The training was facilitated by Peter and Millicent. In attendance were Mrs. Janet Gachie and Mrs. Njagi (School Deputy Principals) among other teachers.

To develop good character, school leaders should intentionally create an environment that enhances virtues development in all aspects of daily school life. Also, all the teaching and non-teaching staff should lead as moral exemplars in the modelling of virtues. Lastly, students should be engaged in virtue reflection activities which helps to deepen their understanding and practice.

Berkowitz, M.W., Bier, M.C., & McCauley, B.  (2017). Toward a Science of Character Education. Frameworks for Identifying and Implementing Effective Practices. Journal of Character Education, Volume 13(I), 2017, pp. 33-51

Bier, M.C. (2021). Servant Leadership for School Principals: A Virtue Cultivation Model. Journal of Character Education Special Issue, 16, (2).

Hoerr, T. (2017). The Formative Five. Fostering Grit, Empathy and Other Success Skills Every Student Needs. Alexandria, VA: ASCD

The Character Education Partnership. (2007). Eleven Principles of Effective Character Education.https://www.researchgate.net/publication/45655772_Eleven_Principles_of_Effective_Character_Education

Schwartz, M. J. (2008). Introduction to Character Education and Effective Principles. Effective Character Education: A Guidebook for Future Educators. McGraw-Hill Publishers. P. 1-23

Educators argue that “early adolescence is a turbulent period since an adolescent is besieged with multifarious challenges and if these challenges are not resolved, he/ she may become a social misfit.” The Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL) through it’s close work with schools have observed that numerous learners are silently experiencing several psychological counseling needs including but not limited to; academic stress, negative peer pressure, relationship problems, stealing, cheating in exams, drug and substance abuse and low self-esteem leading to poor social behaviors both in school and communities. Schools ought to embrace strategies that support learners to cope up with personal development needs and career counseling needs in order to promote holistic growth of students.

Peer counselors is a group of young trained learners appointed by guidance and counselling department to specifically provide an ear to their fellow peers in school. These are students who interacts on a day-to-day basis with their fellow students at a very open and understanding manner. School peer counselors are advocates, leaders, collaborators and go between students who create systemic change by providing counselling services to their fellow peers. As students, peer counsellors understand each other better because of their similar mindset and exposures. Peer counselling in schools is very vital as it gives students an opportunity to freely express their emotions confidently.

CCL has been working with several schools with the goal of building the capacity of students’ peer counsellors. This includes Hospital Hill High School and Uhuru Secondary School. In our training sessions, students are led through an interactive forum on the meaning of peer counselling; purpose of counselling; goals and principles of counselling; stages in the counselling process; counselling strategies, and basic techniques in counselling among others. In addition, students are taught on how to conduct one-on-one and group counselling sessions by use of group discussion activities, video clips and practical demonstrations. The trainings are usually conducted either through a one-day intensive training or a weekly one-hour training session.

As a result of the training, the peer counsellors are becoming more proactive and supportive while carrying out their roles –bringing counselling services closer to their peers. “I feel so empowered through the training. I am now able to counsel my peers including my close  friends in the community,” said a peer counsellor. Another student said, “since we started these weekly trainings, my behavior has changed tremendously. I have to lead by example.”

The department of guidance and counselling is entrusted with the responsibility of providing counseling services, guidance and teaching life skills to the students as well as building capacity of the peer counselors.

On 28th October 2021, the Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL) conducted a mentorship training for the Form 4 and 3 students at Ndung’u Girls Secondary school. The school admit the girls from the neighborhood community since it’s a day school located in Ndeiya, Limuru Sub-County.

The closure of schools and imposed lockdown due to COVID -19 pandemic caused numerous negative effects on the school going children. According to the media reports, there have been rising cases of teenage pregnancies among adolescent girls while boys are affected with the habit of drug and substance abuse as well as involvement in criminal activities. On the other hand, researchers argue that ‘no society can endure, or at least flourish, if it fails to take seriously the eternal task of socializing the next generation of youth, to whom we, as the keepers of our societies and cultures, will bequeath that which we have shepherded and crafted.’ The future of any great nation is anchored in the character, morals and creative mind of its young people. If so, young people are the trustees of the future and there is a dire need of mentoring them as they grow to mature in character.

Thus, CCL conducted the mentorship for the girls with the aim of motivating them to focus on the development of their individual character and become more focused towards attaining their academic goals. This was in line with the school mission “to provide quality and holistic education to the girl child for better future.” The mentoring session focused on developing study habits/reading culture, finishing strong, relationship and character building. Speaking during the session, the facilitator urged the students to focus on developing a positive attitude towards learning and teachers as he emphasized on ‘change your mind, change your life.’ The form four students were urged to focus on finishing strong as they prepare for their final exams while the form three students were strongly urged to think about their ‘Damascus moment’ as they make use of the teachers, text books and involve themselves in active studying. Holistically, the students were urged to avoid distractions which may ruin the development of their individual character and attainment of their academic goals. These include negative peer pressure, irresponsible sexual behavior, bad attitude, pride and laziness among others.

During the training, students showed their thirst to learn more and willingness to apply the best practices and life skills lessons in their individual life. Towards the end, the facilitators engaged the students on a question and answer interactive session while integrating peer teaching strategy in character development. In this case, some of the students participated in responding to some questions raised by their peers. Students expressed their gratitude for the mentorship session as a representative said, “We are very grateful to the facilitators. Our study habits and academic grades will improve and our character will develop as we aim to become better students.” The school Guidance and Counselling teacher, Mrs. Njuguna shared the closing remarks and urged the learners to seriously take into account the life skills and best practices that had been shared and apply in their daily life and academic journey. The training was facilitated by Peter, Millicent and Gilda.

The Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL) was privileged to conduct a one-day leadership training to a group of over 50 members of the student council from Ofafa Jericho High School. The school is located in Makadara Sub-County with a population of over 1000 learners. The mission of the school is to provide quality education services that meet the needs of the learners guided by the values of commitment, fairness, professionalism, integrity and excellence. Since an empowered leader tends to be an effective leader, schools’ leadership trainings are important as they help the student council members to become more effective while carrying out their duties and responsibilities. It is important to offer student leaders the opportunity to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to lead as their success greatly impacts the culture and performance of their schools.

CCL leadership program for the members of student council provides sessions that are geared to develop their leadership skills based on servant- leadership model – a leadership philosophy that prioritizes ethical decision making, the building of community and the optimal development of all involved. The Student councils in schools are an extension of school management roles. The elected members of the student councils act as an eye or a link between the administration, teachers and students. They support in the development and maintenance of a conducive environment for learning within the school community.

During the training, students were engaged through interactive and educative sessions which included servant leadership and virtue development, role of student leaders in supporting school management as well as managing and resolving conflicts in schools. For instance, the facilitator led the participants on a virtue-reflection exercise where individually, they were able to identify character traits that are most and least developed within the self and eventually develop an improvement plan. He urged them to strive in developing character traits which will enhance the development of their character and leadership capacity. The character traits included: humility, courage, self-control, compassion, kindness, responsibility, sacrifice, respect, thankfulness and perseverance among others.

In addition, the facilitators led the students through cooperative learning where students were assigned specific tasks to discuss and present their work as a team. The tasks included developing the roles of School Captain and his deputies, Class prefects, Academic Perfects, Dormitory Prefects and Dining hall prefects among others. Further, the students were able to identify the issues which are affecting negatively their school culture and climate. The Council A cross section of Student Leaders engaging in a group activity was led in developing an implementation plan which will guide them while addressing the issues. For example, the Council unanimously agreed that if any student is caught with a stolen item, he will be required to make an apology during the school assembly. Other outcomes included enhancing the school reading culture and dismantling unnecessary peer groups.

The School Principal, Mr. Linge assured the Council of his support and commitment in ensuring that they are able to effectively execute the action plan as he said “Commit all your plans to God, and you will succeed.”

The school Captain as he gave the vote of thanks said that “I have been reminded on some things that I have been slacking on and I will work to make myself better.’’

The training was facilitated by Peter King’ori and Gilda Waithira. Teachers who were in attendance included Mrs. Thuranira and Mrs. Musembi among others.

Centre for Character and Leadership (CCL) conducted a one-day leadership training to the members of the student council at Drumvale Secondary School located in Njiru Sub-County. With structured guidance and mentorship, the student leaders were empowered to make ethical decisions, take ownership of their actions, share responsibilities with their peers, and reflect on their character growth and academic achievement.

CCL leadership program for the members of student council provides sessions that are geared to develop their leadership skills based on servant-leadership model – a leadership philosophy that prioritizes ethical decision making, the building of community and the optimal development of all involved. The Student councils in schools are an extension of school management roles. The student councils are entrusted with responsibilities that help to build up or strengthen school culture and climate. The elected members of the student council acts as a third eye of the school; giving support to the school management; maintaining the smooth running of school activities; linking the students to the school management; and disciplinary roles such as identifying and reporting cases of indiscipline and making sure that the school rules are adhered to.
A good student leader needs guidance, knowledge and wisdom. During the training, students were engaged through interactive sessions which included servant leadership and virtue development, role of student leaders in school management as well as managing and resolving conflicts in schools. Speaking during the training, the facilitator urged the students to embrace the school vision, mission and build a community that inculcates their school core values which include godliness, self-discipline, fairness and commitment. Other key sub-topics that were covered included qualities of a good leader, role models, how to become a good member of the student council, student council roles and responsibilities, student council code of conduct as well as causes and effective ways of resolving or mitigating conflicts.

The participants enthusiastically shared their leadership experiences and brainstormed through group discussions on various challenges which are effecting their school culture negatively. This included negative peer pressure, poor time management skills, poor reading culture, prevalence of boy-girl relationships among students and school indiscipline i.e. stealing cases and noise making with the help of the facilitators, the students designed an implementation plan which will guide them to monitor and control the prevailing incidents as well as enhance the development of a positive school culture and climate. An immediate outcome of the training was the commitment of the teacher in-charge of guidance and counselling to work collaboratively with the student council in order to identify and recruit the peer counsellors. In conclusion, the students were highly impacted by the training as captured by the following testimonials.

“I have worked on my anger management since the last leadership training. I am now able to practice the virtue of self-control,” said the Nutrition Captain
“Thank you so much for bringing to us someone whom we can easily identify with; she has really inspired me to work hard and get an excellent grade in order to go to the university,” said an elated student leader.
“Thank you so much for the training. You have really inspired us to become better leaders. We promise to work together as student leaders in order to achieve better results,” said the School Captain.
The training was facilitated by Peter, Millicent and Gilda. In attendance were teacher Nancy and Mr. Maela.