Dani at Scripture Union South Rift

Nursery Education

Mostly in towns you will find nurseries in Kenya and the parents have to pay fees for them. In most cases rich and well educated parents are sending their children to a nursery.

You cannot compare those nurseries with the kindergarten in Europe where the children are playing the whole day. It is more like a preschool.

Because the children in the age from three to six years learn the entire alphabet and also easy calculations.

After three years of nursery the children know how to read and write easy and small sentences and they know how to add and subtract from 1 to 20.

Primary Education

The Primary School in Kenya takes eight years. In the past many poor parents were not afford to pay for the school fees therefore mostly the children of rich people attend primary school.

In 2003 this changed because the Kenyan goverment – actually Kibaki – kept his promiese and abolished the school fees for the primary schools. Therefore from now on it is possible that even children from poor families get education.

Suddenly 1.7 million children more went to school than before. But there was no money to invest also for schools and to employee more teachers. Therefore the situation at the schools is very difficult.

Therefore there is one teacher for one hundred of pupils. Therefore a qualitative and good teaching is hardly possible. Also the number of teachers is diminishing. Because of a higher salary the teachers like to be employed at private schools. And at a private school the situation is much better than at government school. But there you still have to pay school fees and therefore only rich people are able to send their children private schools.

Secundary Education

Secundary Schools or Highschools take another four years and you have to pay school fees. There are a few government schools but most of them are private or belong to a church.

Because of the fees the most people are not able to get a secundary education and there only a few awards. Only some school take children from the slums who are very intelligent and gifted.

Every year there is a competition between the schools who is getting the most points at the national examinations. Even in the TV and the newspapers you will find stories and reports about the winners. Sometimes the best of them get a studentship for free from the president.

Vocational Training

In Kenya you will not find a vocational training like in Europe where you can learn and get a profession after a couple of years. But either you can get a practical training at company or workshop (in-service-training) or…

you can visit a college somewhere in town. Most of them are private colleges. There you can get a training for example for a mechanic, a hair stylist or a PC specialist.

But all this vocational training cost a lot of money. For example, to become a PC specialist cost you 2000€ for a two years training. But after that you will find a job very easy.

University

Kenya has seven government universities and many private ones. At the government university there are a few studentships for free but only for the best students. The other ones have to pay school fees and also to attend private universities.

The richest people like to send their children to international universities at Great Britian or the States, a few students are coming also to Germany. With an international university degree it is very easy to find a good job and to get a good position in business.

Till now it is not possible to study all subjects at the Kenyan universities.