Low-cost schools for children in the Kenyan neighborhood of Mathare

Steve is six years old and lives in the

slum

(informal settlement)

of Mathare, the second

largest in Nairobi.

Like all six-year-old Kenyan children, she is at the age of starting compulsory school.

Her family, shortly before starting the course, approached the nearest public school to enroll her, but there they were told that there were no more places available.

What could Steve's family do, without enough money to pay for private tuition?

According to the latest data published by the Government

,

in 2020, Kenya had 23,368 public schools and 8,096 private schools —of the country's 55 million inhabitants, 37% are under 14 years old, according to the UN Population Fund— .

These two types of centers coexist with a third, low-cost

private centers

, which serve low-income families in the poorest areas of large cities, informal settlements or

slums

.

These schools, often a project of families residing in these neighborhoods, are not registered or controlled by the Government and have attracted criticism from government agencies for the low quality of both the teachers and the school materials and facilities, at the same time that serve children who would otherwise be excluded from the school circuit.

More information

A big education in a small town

The most notorious controversy broke out in 2018 between Bridge International Academies, a group of low-cost schools that had hundreds of centers in Africa, and the Kenya National Union of Teachers.

The general secretary of the latter at that time, Wilson Sossion, publicly stated that low-cost

schools

were illegal and that they should be closed immediately.

Finally, after pressure from the Government, more than half of these centers ended up closing.

Approximately 500,000 people live in the

Mathare

slum , although there is no very exact data.

But Mathare has only four public schools.

“

Currently, 60% of the children here go to these

low-cost schools,”

says Alice Wanjiru, an employee of the NGO Educafrica, which collaborates with several schools in the neighborhood in teacher training.

Big spending on education

In the latest

Kenya economic update

report , the World Bank highlights the high amount of money that households allocate to education in Kenya: 33% of the country's total spending on education comes from families, where primary education (from six to 14 years old), theoretically free, adds a series of hidden expenses, such as books and uniforms.

An example is given by Benjamin Aminga, director of the low-cost school Golden Bells Education Center, which teaches classes to 180 students: “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 a year (about 1,020 euros), a level that many families in neighborhoods like Mathare do not reach.

The annual costs of schools like those with which Educafrica collaborates are around 7,500 shillings per year (about 42 euros) for primary education, double that for secondary education.

“Kenya has made impressive efforts, increasing spending on education, increasing enrollment at all levels and improving its results before the pandemic, becoming one of the best performing countries in the region,” the World Bank noted in its report. June 2022. The Government invests 4.1% of its GDP in the education sector, above other countries in the area, such as Uganda (2.6%), Tanzania (3.2%) or Ethiopia (3 .7%).

Organizations such as Unicef, for their part, emphasize that primary school enrollment in Kenya is close to 93%, but falls to 53% in secondary education.

Furthermore, some areas of the country have a ratio of 77 students per teacher.

Entrance to the Mathare neighborhood. Miguel Janer García

Low-cost schools do not receive government aid, explains Andrew Omamo, director and founder of the Red Hill Education Center school, with more than 350 students: “All the funding we have is the fee that students pay.”

Judy Odero, founder and director of Destiny Junior Education Center, another of the

low-cost

schools in the area, (365 students) corroborates this.

“We encourage teachers to make parents and students see the importance of education,” she emphasizes.

Regarding their results, students from both institutions took the last national primary education exam, a test that students take after completing eighth grade and which is supervised by the Kenya National Examinations Council, an examination body dependent on the Ministry of Education. .

At Red Hill, the highest score was 327 points (out of a maximum of 500) and 12 of the 27 students who appeared obtained at least 250 points.

At Golden, the highest score was 336, and half of the students (four of eight children) passed.

Steve is now 12 years old, and thanks to the expansion that Judy Odero has made at Destiny School, he can 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, to give back to my community everything it has given me

.”

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