Urban Education in Kenya: Can a busing-system support students to access quality subsidized education

• In Event: Roundtable Session 10
  In Refereed Roundtable Session: Is Africa Ready for the Rapid Expansion of Urban Education: Implications on Equity and Quality

Proposal

The spirit of leaving no one behind reminds us of the need to enhance inclusion in education provision and this made governments to introduce universal primary education policies. In Kenya, only children attending government schools benefit from tuition free schooling. Unfortunately, there are thousands of children, especially from urban informal settlements (slums) who cannot access government schools[7].

In Nairobi’s urban informal settlements, data shows that about 63% of primary school age children attend low-fee private schools (LFPS), and it is not a choice. While making decision on school to attend, households consider many factors – among them distance, costs, quality of education and livelihood related chores. Of interest to this discussion is distance and tuition free schooling, in the context of very few government schools within informal settlements. For instance, one of the informal settlements that is only 15km from Nairobi’s CBD, has two government primary schools against a primary school-age population of about 10,000[8].

The Nairobi City County responds through expansion and building of new primary schools to deal with the huge school sizes (over 1100). Despite these good efforts, there still remains a huge proportion of children from low-income households who do not benefit from such good efforts. If schools cannot be constructed within informal settlements due to the challenges associated with displacement of households, can children be bussed (transport services) to and from government schools within the city? Distance is a real issue because of three main reasons: it influences the perception that the neighboring LFPS are of good quality, children’s safety due to overcrowding of buildings and pathways, and parental hustles to put food on the table hence preference for a nearby school with flexible dropping and picking times. This comes in the backdrop of low supply of government primary schools.

The UN-Habitat estimates 60-70% of Nairobi’s 4.4 million (as of 2019) live in informal settlements[9,10]. In 2020, across Nairobi City County, there were a total of 382,237 learners enrolled in primary schools, and if about 63% cannot access government schools, due to among other things distance, then solutions such as busing need to be explored. Of the 850 available primary schools, only about one in every five (24%) are government schools[11].

Policy implications include strategies for transport services to offer transport to children from poor urban neighborhoods to access government schools where they can benefit from subsidies such as free learning materials. Furthermore, access to quality education is critical for all children and especially for those who come from poor backgrounds. The demand for schooling in urban informal settlements will continue to grow due to the high rate of urbanization in Africa, including Kenya. Moreover, children should benefit from free primary education (FPE), as Kenyan citizens, and busing them to government schools offers them such an opportunity. Thee will access better infrastructure, ICT facilities in government schools, FPE capitation that come with teaching and learning materials, and access to trained teachers.

Author

• Moses Ngware, African Population And Health Research Center