Kenya: A Commercial Approach to Slum Education

Free Primary Education (FPE) was going to be one of President Mwai Kibaki’s legacy projects, and its initial announcement had been widely welcomed. But it has lost a lot of its shine recently following allegations that large part of its budget allocations could not be accounted for, and the US and the British Department for International Development (DFID) have suspended funding until a credible investigation has been held. As a result, private schools at the low-income end of market still find demand. It is this market that Bridge Academies International has targeted with a tightly structured, mass-market business model.

Bridge Academies currently runs seven schools in Kenya. Their aim is to expand to 150 schools in Kenya, all in slums, areas deliberately chosen for their high population density that is required for this model. The monthly fees per child are KES295 (about USD4) – which, Bridge Academies estimate, matches or is below the unofficial fees that parents incur when sending their children to FPE schools.