Sonko plans to scrap fees in public nursery schools
Public nursery schools in Nairobi will be free of charge from next month if City Hall adopts a new proposal.
The proposal dubbed Free Early childhood and Pre-primary Education is set to be tabled before the county Cabinet chaired by Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko on Monday.
Current gazetted charges for nursery are between Sh600 and Sh1,300 per term, exclusive of lunch which is priced depending on schools.
A report by the county indicates there are 538,258 children who are under five years in Nairobi.
Out of this, 295,961 are aged between three and five and the rest are below three years.
County education executive member Janet Muthoni-Ouko confirmed that the proposal will be tabled before the Cabinet.
“We want to ensure that our children have access to education without discrimination,” said Mrs Ouko.
According to the county report, out of the nearly 0.3 million pre-school children currently enrolled in pre-schools in Nairobi, only 13,921 are in public nursery schools.
“This indicates that there is a large demand for early childhood development and education services within the county to cater for all children in order to provide a strong foundation in early years,” states the report.
The rest of the population is catered for by private schools and academies which operate in slums.