General information

The Kenyan school system

(information taken from Wikipedia)

Eight-year elementary school

In rural areas in particular, many primary schools were run according to theHarambee principle, meaning that parents financed them themselves through donations. These schools were poor in every respect. The situation only improved when, in 2003, theKibaki government fulfilleditselection promise and abolished school fees for primary schools. This gave children from poorer families access to education for the first time. Within a year, 1.7 million more children were attending school. However, investment in the education sector has been lacking, and the school system is barely able to cope with the increasing number of pupils.

The teacher-student ratio has deteriorated to 1:100, making it virtually impossible to provide high-quality teaching. In addition, the number of teachers is steadily declining. Parents who desire a reasonably acceptable teacher-student ratio for their children, with the resulting improvement in learning outcomes, and who are not satisfied with simply advancing their children to the next grade on paper, are still compelled to send their children to one of the many private schools at a corresponding tuition cost. These include numerousBIA schools. The operation of these schools is controversial.

Secondary schools

Secondary schools (grades 9–12) are comprehensive schools that charge fees. They are run by the state, large organizations such as churches, or private entrepreneurs. The latter two are generally referred to as private schools. Due to the costs involved, these schools are inaccessible to large sections of the population, even though private schools award scholarships. Some schools only accept gifted children from the slums free of charge.

vocational training

Vocational training, as it is widely known in Germany, for example, under the dual system or in vocational schools, does not exist in Kenya. A type of training is available in the workplace (in-service training) or at one of the numerous private institutes in the cities. These institutes train car mechanics, hairdressers, and computer specialists, among others. All of these training programs cost money. A hardware specialist, for example, can be trained in Nairobi for €2,000 over 18 months. Such training greatly increases one's chances on the free market.

universities

Kenya currently has seven state universities and a large number of colleges. Only the best students are awarded free places at state universities. Those who are less "good" have to attend fee-paying (international) private universities. Universities often lack the necessary funds, which is whystrikesbylecturers or students are common.