Not everyone benefits from the opportunities available and particularly access to quality, accessible, available and affordable education. The poverty gap between the rich and the poor is alarming with a large population living in abject poverty. Further, some communities have been marginalized with successive governments economically, with limited education infrastructure making it difficult to realize the right to education. Some cultural heritage and practices have also contributed to failure by some communities to realize this right. Additionally, a huge population in urban areas live in informal settlements which are densely populated with poor or no public education infrastructure. These areas include major cities in Kenya, Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu.  The situation has seen mushrooming of APBET schools wish are unregulated with minimum or no supervision

The Kenyan education system depicts inequalities and exclusion of large populations / communities. While there are progressive education policies in place, impressive academic institutions, and free primary education programs, education often fails to reach people in remote and poor communities. The Arid regions of Kenya such as Baringo County are ranked the lowest in the country in terms of school performance and literacy. Over 50% of children in these areas have never attended school. In the most remote regions, adult literacy rates stand at 18%, compared to the national average of 87%. Girls and women face worse education challenges compared to their male counterparts. 50% of boys’ complete primary school compared to only 30% of girls, and there is only one literate woman to every five literate men.  

“Education for the poor is not just a right, but a route to survival”- Permanent Secretary, Ministry of education, 2010.

 In the informal settlements, many of the children from poor economic backgrounds are not able to benefit from education due to few ill-equipped early childhood education centers and public primary schools with few sparsely spread secondary schools in some communities. Instead, children attend low-fee private primary schools where education quality is substandard making it very difficult for pupils to achieve higher learning outcomes and advance to higher education levels. At tertiary level, we have limited opportunities for alternative learning for school dropout and vocational education, leaving 50% of boys and 80% of girls without any identifiable skills to fully exploit their potential. 

Missionaries of Mercy – Kenya in partnership with key education stakeholders including the Ministry of education, county education departments, children department, school heads, pupils, parents and teachers to promote realization of right to education by the marginalized populations.  Our target beneficiaries are vulnerable communities and children at county and national level. These comprise children with disability, orphans, school dropouts and children from poor economic backgrounds. Our delivery approach includes, Advocacy, Research, Awareness, Policy engagement including budgetary allocation and education sponsor.