Concern as Nairobi’s populous estate has no public primary school

According to the population and housing census carried out by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) in 2019 – Embakasi is the most densely populated area in Nairobi – with a population of 988,808.

A good part of this population resides in Pipeline estate – and the surrounding informal settlement of Mukuru kwa Njenga, Kware and Tassia.

Residents who spoke to Wananchi Reporting wondered why the area has no public primary schools yet it has such a huge population.

“There are no public primary schools in Tassia and Pipeline. I know we have Mukuru kwa Njenga Primary school, but this cannot serve everyone,” noted Jacinta Bunde, a resident of Pipeline, and a mother of two.

Already grappling with high cost of living, most residents of Kware, Tassia, Pipeline, and part of Imara Daima have had to send their children to private schools in the area.

Those who cannot afford fees in private schools send their children to the nearby Donholm Primary School – in Donholm estate. The school is located several kilometres from Pipeline estate.

Residents of surrounding estates like Fedha have had to get used to sending their children to private schools. The estate, associated with people of fairly good economic means, has seen a speedy mushrooming of private schools.

According to data from Nairobi City County Education department, the capital has over 200 public Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres and primary schools.

Most of these are in Nairobi’s Eastlands area; spread across Kayole, Dandora, Bahati, Mwiki, Donholm, Umoja II, Komarock, and Dandora.

This comes just as President William Ruto on Wednesday, October 12, officially opened the newly completed Komarock South Primary school.

"There is no way we only have 260 public primary schools in Nairobi when we have a population of more than five million,"  President Ruto said.

 "I'm here to open the school deliberately because I want Nairobi leaders to know that there are so many children who are not going to school."

"We need five additional schools in every constituency in Nairobi," Ruto said, news that is likely to give hope to Pipeline residents.

The new school located in Embakasi Central opened its doors for the first time to learners on September 26, 2022, bringing to eight the total number of public primary schools in the constituency.