This archive report was first published on 15 July 2020.
Published on July 15, 2020, a report by a former Nairobi County governor's task force revealed that the number of public primary schools in the city had remained stagnant at 205 for over 15 years.
Meanwhile, the number of standalone Early Childhood Development (ECD) centers had remained at 21, while those attached to primary schools stood at 186.
These schools can accommodate less than half of the city's school-going population, forcing thousands of children to forgo their right to free education and pay for it.
Free primary education was first introduced in Kenya in the 1970s, complemented by the Kenya School Equipment Scheme, which provided textbooks and stationery to all primary schools.
However, it was in the 1980s and 1990s that things took a turn for the worse, with the introduction of 'cost-sharing' by former President Daniel arap Moi.
This policy made basic education expensive and a preserve of those who could afford it, resulting in hundreds of thousands of children missing out on education every year.
The consequences of this policy can still be felt today, with many private schools established during this period to capitalize on the collapse of public education.
Former President Moi was a major investor in the private school sector, and his successor, President Mwai Kibaki, introduced free primary education, but the perception that public education is inferior has never been reversed.
Today, the acute under-staffing in public schools, despite thousands of trained teachers being unemployed, can be traced back to 1998, when the government froze employment of teachers for three years.
This has negatively impacted the quality of education offered in public schools and driven more parents to private schools.
