Steve is six years old and lives in the Mathare slum (informal settlement), the second largest in Nairobi. Like all six-year-old Kenyan children, he is at the age where he begins compulsory schooling. Shortly before the course began, his family contacted the nearest public school to enroll him, but were told there were no more places available. What could Steve's family do without enough money for private lessons?
According to the latest data released by the government, there were 23,368 public schools and 8,096 private schools in Kenya in 2020 – of the country's 55 million population, 37% are under the age of 14, according to the UN Population Fund. These two types of centers exist alongside a third, low-cost private centers that serve low-income families in the poorest areas of major cities, informal settlements or slums. These schools, often a project of families living in these neighborhoods, are not registered or controlled by the government and are run by government authorities due to the low quality of both teachers and school materials and facilities that simultaneously serve the children , criticizes those who would otherwise be excluded from the school circle.
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The most infamous controversy erupted in 2018 between Bridge International Academies, a group of low-cost schools with hundreds of centers in Africa, and the Kenya National Union of Teachers. The latter's then general secretary, Wilson Sossion, publicly stated that low-cost schools were illegal and that they should be closed immediately. Eventually, under government pressure, more than half of these centers were closed.
Around 500,000 people live in the Mathare slum, but there is no precise data. But Mathare has only four public schools. “Currently, 60% of the children here attend these low-cost schools,” says Alice Wanjiru, an employee of the NGO Educafrica, which works with several schools in the neighborhood to train teachers.
Big spending on education
In the latest Kenya Economic Update Report, the World Bank highlights the large amount of money that households in Kenya spend on education: 33% of the country's total spending on education comes from families where primary education (ages six to 14), theoretically free, There are also a number of hidden expenses such as books and uniforms. Benjamin Aminga, director of the low-cost school Golden Bells Education Center, which teaches 180 students, gives an example: “Some children don't have enough money to pay for food, so from time to time I put something out of my own pocket. so they can make ends meet.”
The minimum wage in Kenya is about 181,400 shillings per year (about 1,020 euros), a level that many families in neighborhoods like Mathare do not reach. The annual cost for schools like the ones Educafrica works with is around 7,500 shillings per year (around 42 euros) for primary school, twice as much as for secondary school.
“Kenya has made impressive efforts, increasing education spending, increasing enrollment at all levels and improving its pre-pandemic outcomes, becoming one of the best-performing countries in the region,” the World Bank noted in its June 2022 report. The government invests 4.1% of its GDP in the education sector, which is higher than other countries in the region such as Uganda (2.6%), Tanzania (3.2%) or Ethiopia (3.7%). For their part, organizations such as Unicef emphasize that the primary school enrollment rate in Kenya is almost 93%, but falls to 53% in secondary school. In addition, in some regions of the country there is a quota of 77 students per teacher.
Entrance to Mathare district. Miguel Janer Garcia
Low-cost schools receive no government support, explains Andrew Omamo, director and founder of the Red Hill Education Center school with more than 350 students: “All the resources we have are the fees that the students pay.” Judy Odero, founder and director Destiny Junior Education Center, another low-cost school in the area (365 students), confirms this. “We encourage teachers, parents and students to make them aware of the importance of education,” he emphasizes.
As for their results, students from both institutions sat the final National Primary School Examination, an exam that students take after completing eighth grade and which is monitored by the Kenya National Examinations Council, an examination body dependent on the Ministry of Education. At Red Hill the maximum score was 327 points (out of a maximum of 500) and 12 of the 27 students who appeared scored at least 250 points. At Golden, the highest score was 336, and half of the students (four out of eight children) passed.
Steve is now 12 years old and thanks to the expansion that Judy Odero made at Destiny School, he is able to continue his high school studies. When asked what he wants to be when he grows up, he answers without hesitation: “I want to be an engineer and give back to my community everything it has given me.”
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