The International Finance Corporation (IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank) in mid-March proposed a $7 million investment in Kenyan private education firm, Brookhouse Schools Limited. The investment will support construction of a second campus at Brookhouse’s Nairobi international school, where annual fees are almost $15,000, and add 800 new pupils, more than doubling the school’s intake.
the true ideological nature of such initiatives
David Archer of NGO ActionAid International said “There can be no justification for the IFC to be supporting elite private schools like this when there is such a clear need for increased investment in quality public schools in Kenya. This is even more scandalous than the worrying trend where international agencies (e.g. UK aid agency Department for International Development / World Bank) are supporting low-cost private schools, sometimes with public money, claiming that they help to expand access. The huge success of campaigns to abolish user fees in countries like Kenya led to millions more children enrolling in primary school so it is absurd to argue that charging fees will expand access. This IFC investment betrays the true ideological nature of such initiatives – which are focused on those who can afford to pay (in this case the elite of Kenyan society), not those whose need is greatest.”
