Build Primary Schools for the children in Nairobi

SETTING APART OF LAND FOR CONSTRUCTION OF PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN THE SLUMS AND INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS OF NAIROBI

We the undersigned organisations involved in the promotion of the Right to Education wrote to the Mayor, Nairobi City Council on the 18th December, 2009 appealing for intervention in the above matter. One year later, we are yet to receive any response from your office. We now publicly draw your attention once again to the following issues:

1. Despite the inception of Free Primary Education in 2003, Nairobi has the largest number of un-enrolled children save for North Eastern Province. Only 61.8% of boys and 59.7% girls are enrolled in primary schools. Lack of affordable primary schools for the poor, who live in the informal settlements, is a major contributor to this problem.

2. Despite housing over 60% of the population in Nairobi (3.1 Million people) only 23% (67 out of 203) public primary schools are available to slum communities in Nairobi - less than 5 are inside slum areas. The failure of the Government of Kenya to construct adequate public primary schools in Nairobi is distressing, given the rapid rise in population. Only 1 public school has been built in Nairobi over the last 10 years.

3. The Ministry of Education has on numerous occasions, lastly on 29th August, 2009 expressed readiness and availability of resources for construction new public primary schools in the slums of Nairobi. However, a significant inhibitor to the construction of schools, according to the Ministry of Education, is the inability or unwillingness of Nairobi City Council to allocate land.

4. The Laws of Kenya obligate the Nairobi City Council to make available land for the purpose of public schools. These Obligations are set forth in, inter alia, Cap 265 Section 144 (1) to (3) of the Local Government Act; Cap 6 Section 29 of the Physical Planning Act; Cap 211 Section 24, as read with Section 5 (2) (a) (Entrustment of Functions to Local Authorities) and the Government Lands Act.

5. Public Primary Schools remain the only guaranteed access points for receipt of government grants for the Free Primary Education Programme.

6. The provision of education services in a country is the de jure obligation of the State; construction of public primary schools being an indispensible prerequisite.

Our appeal is founded on the international legal and political obligations incumbent upon the Government of Kenya to guarantee the Right to Education by virtue of, inter alia:, Chapter 4, Part 3 of the New Constitution of Kenya, Article 4 and 28 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC); Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Part II, Section 7 of the Children’s Act; and, the Millennium Development Goal 2.

We urge you to discharge your obligation to human rights by publishing the whereabouts of public land for the construction of schools for the urban poor.