A class in session at the Olympic primary School. File
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Slum residents will also be affected by the programme which is meant to cater for low-income pupils who cannot afford private institutions or travel expenses.
Thousands of people living in Nairobi’s high-density estates and informal settlements will be displaced when the county takes over some buildings to establish primary schools. The estates to be affected include Pipeline and Embakasi as well as slums like Fuata Nyayo and Mukuru.
The county requires 50 schools in these areas to ease pressure on the existing ones with enrolment of over 2,500 pupils each.
According to a report on primary education improvement released yesterday, this will ease pressure on schools like Olympic in Kibera, which has over 100 pupils in every class. The report has recommended that these schools with high populations be divided into two.
County executive for education Christopher Khaemba said the displacement is inevitable and the owners will be compensated.
“There are big developments in areas like Pipeline, Embakasi area where there are buildings, residential or otherwise, stretching for miles. One of the things I immediately see is taking up of certain buildings, renovating them and compensating the owners so that land is set aside for schools,” he said.
Slum residents will also be affected by the programme which is meant to cater for low-income pupils who cannot afford private institutions or travel expenses. “What we are discussing with the governor and the County Assembly is setting aside a budget for resettling people so that we can create schools for them,” Mr Khaemba said.
It is, however, unclear when such developments will start given the huge budget required. The county is also under no obligation to splash out money on these institutions as education is not a devolved function, although there has been a push for the same.
Governor Evans Kidero said that the national government should devolve maintenance of school infrastructure to the counties and concentrate on providing teachers. The county is also seeking ways to improve infrastructure in each of the existing 205 public schools, requiring Sh54 million for renovations and upgrade.
“Buildings in most of these schools are in pathetic condition. The roofing and ceiling in most schools have caved in exposing children to the elements of weather, especially during the rainy season,” the report says.
The infrastructure deterioration is linked to parents stopping payment for building and maintenance when primary education was declared free. But the Free Primary Education (FPE) capitation grant is inadequate to cater for infrastructure maintenance.
The report also says that following the introduction of FPE, many parents in the mid and up-market areas transferred their children from public schools to private institutions.
