MPs fight for recognition of alternative schools in Kenya

City Members of Parliament and non-governmental organisations involved in children’s welfare have joined education stakeholders in the fight for the soul of millions of learners in Alternative Providers for Basic Education and Training (APBET) schools in Kenya.

There are about two million learners in close to 8,000 such schools located in the country’s informal settlements and arid and semi-arid areas (ASALs).

On Wednesday, the MPs vowed to pass the proposed Basic Education Amendment Bill, 2024, which also seeks the recognition of the APBET.

Antony Oluoch (Mathare), Mwalimu Orero (Kibra), Beatrice Elachi (Dagoretti North) and Nairobi Senator, Edwin Sifuna, who attended a stakeholder meeting in a Nairobi hotel argued that the restrictive nature of the Basic Education Act further impoverishes disadvantaged children.

“The Basic Education Act is restrictive in terms of who constitutes a public school or how Basic Education is defined here to include only public and private school,” said Oluoch, noting that the purpose of the amendment, which is the Amendment Act 2013, is to amend it so that it can include the APBET schools.

This, he said, will bring to the table, where budgeting is done, a certain category of children, mostly in informal settlements across the country, to curb further exclusion from government plans that include funding.

“This amendment will facilitate access to various government services for these children who are usually excluded from funding, in terms of capitation that every Kenyan child enjoys, funding in terms of TSC teachers, which every child is entitled to under Article 43, and Universal Free compulsory education among other important requirements,” he added, wondering how this category of children will access those services if they are not on the table where the budgeting is being done.

“We can only extend the free education to them if they enjoy the benefits that are accruing to other children in terms of the Act,” he said.

Save the Children, World Vision, Shining Hope for Communities (Shofco), and Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK), among other organisations including the Kenya Primary Schools Headteachers Association (KPSHA) and Special Schools Heads Association of Kenya (SSHAK) hosted the meeting.

Therefore, by Amending the Act, Oluoch said, it will pave the way for recognition of all learning initiatives including adult education, vocational training colleges like polytechnics, night and day-care schools and many other categories of schools or children who want to go through formal schools but cannot go to public institutions of learning for many reasons in terms of their background.

“These are schools on a Sunday, they are churches, and during the evenings they are social halls where the youth are practising all sorts of things. So the restriction in the Act comes about with the requirement for the size of land to have such schools registered,” he said.

The Act in its current form requires that for the APBET schools to be registered, they must have one acre of land.

“Where do I get a one acre of land in places such as Mathare, which are congested?” he posed observing that, if such schools cannot get registration, it means they are not recognised, and therefore not eligible for funding.

Orero shared the same sentiments calling on the government to have the Ministry of Education recognise APBET schools, and should not put strict conditions for their registration because they have been operating like that for years, and have produced some of the country’s high-ranking officers in government.

“So what we are asking is very simple; that they be allowed to register and operate because they don’t have that kind of land in Nairobi,” Oluoch said.

funding of alternative schools

Around 2005, the government started funding APBET schools, and they had a policy on them.

“It’s therefore important that the current government recognises the APBET schools, just like other schools. In Kibra there are over 250 APBET schools with just nine public schools, meaning that almost the whole of Kibra relies on these types of learning institutions,” he said, arguing that the few public schools around are already overstretched in terms of space and resources.

“So I believe that when this Bill comes to our committee we will be able to move it, pass it so that this country can see another dimension of education where kids are not categorised as private but like all the other Kenyan kids,” Orero stated.

He pointed out that it will be an important moment for the country where APBET schools also are accessible to capitation.

The Bill has gone through the Budget Committee, and it is headed to the Education Committee, then to Parliament.

He regretted that the gap between the haves and the have-nots is continuing to widen, meaning that if the situation is not addressed, children from poor backgrounds will remain forever entangled in the cycle of poverty.

“Amending the Act will therefore ensure that the gap between the rich and poor is minimised,” he added, calling for fellow legislators to support the Amendment Bill so that the country can have a third category of schools serving the poor.

Paul Wanjohi, the National Treasurer of the Unified APBET Schools Association of Kenya (UASA- Kenya), said APBET schools play a crucial role in Kenya’s educational landscape by providing alternative pathways to quality education for underserved populations.

“By understanding the distinctive features of APBET schools and the motivations behind parents’ choices, stakeholders can better support and enhance the impact of these vital institutions in building a more equitable and inclusive society,” he noted.

There are over 3,600 APBET schools in Nairobi alone, and 4,500 others spread across the country as confirmed by Moses Wokono, the National Chairman of UASA Kenya.

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