Educational expansion into informal settlements, lessons from Kenya

Kenya is far advanced in its quest to expand access to and ensure completion of primary education for all Kenyan children. However, there remain two regions where expansion remains challenging, the sparsely populated and... [ view full abstract ]

Kenya is far advanced in its quest to expand access to and ensure completion of primary education for all Kenyan children. However, there remain two regions where expansion remains challenging, the sparsely populated and insecure arid and semi arid lands (ASALs) and the informal urban settlements, or slum areas. As the latter are illegal settlements government has no obligation to provide services such as education. However, government recognises that closing down the low cost private schools that have emerged to address demand would be counterproductive. Therefore the Ministry of Education is devising registration criteria that would ensure sufficient quality without placing too onerous a burden on the schools, which would cause many of them to close down. Once registered, schools would be entitled to capitation grants, which would ease, if not remove, the need for fees.
DFID’s Kenya Essential Education Programme is delivering a programme of support to these schools that aims to improve access, quality and equity, while also engaging with the Ministry to ensure a pathway to registration and long-term funding. This is providing some interesting lessons for how government can effectively ensure quality education provision in regions it lacks a legal mandate to engage with, but contain some of the most disadvantaged groups within society. This paper provides lessons learned to date and recommendations for future programming.