Sh4 million a year: Nairobi tops Africa in fees at schools for the rich
Dukesbridge Kindergarten in Nairobi. PHOTO | COURTESY
Nairobi has once again emerged as the most expensive city in Africa for elite schools with fees reaching highs of Sh4.1 million ($31,000) per year as parents place a premium on their children’s education, a new report shows.
The analysis by International Schools Database shows that out of the six African cities surveyed, Kenya’s capital had the highest average fee as well as the most expensive fees charged, rivalled only by Addis Ababa.
Nairobi has held its position as the most expensive destination in Africa for international education since 2019 when the analysis was first carried out.
“It (Nairobi) also offers the biggest spread of prices, from a minimum of Sh125,700 ($935) per year to a maximum of almost Sh4.1 million ($31,000) per year,” says the report, which captured the fees as of December 2022.
The wide spread of prices signifies that parents have an array of schools they can opt to enrol their children in depending on their budgets.
Of the 76 cities analysed globally, Nairobi ranks 57, Addis Ababa 64, Johannesburg and Kampala 69 and 70 respectively while Casablanca and Cape Town come in positions 74 and 75.
Africa, however, continues to offer the lowest costs for international schooling compared to other regions around the world.
The analysis uses the whole price of a full term for one 6-year-old child, excluding once-off costs such as enrolment fees and application fees to calculate the cost.
The trend indicates that Kenyan parents are increasingly embracing international education to give their children a better chance at upward mobility and set them up for admission to top universities abroad.
The increasing number of middle-class families in Kenya means that enrolling a child in an international school is no longer the preserve of the expatriate community.
This increasing demand has driven the rising number of schools offering foreign curricula with the latest being Durham School — one of the oldest schools in England— that has set base in the leafy suburb of Thigiri.
Dukesbridge, an avant-garde international school that borrows heavily from the Australian Early Years Framework, recently opened at the heart of Kitisuru, Nairobi.
The International Schools Database analysis, which evaluates fees of international schools globally shows that Cape Town is the least expensive city in Africa and also has the smallest spread of prices.
Nairobi’s high fees have seen institutions charge more on average than European cities such as Amsterdam and Copenhagen.
The data shows International School of Kenya tops the list of exclusive schools charging, for instance, Sh3.6 million per year for pupils in Grade One to Five.
The ISK, which offers an American curriculum, boasts expansive compounds, modern libraries and laboratories, quality meals and a wide range of facilities for sporting and extra-curricular activities.
Annual fees for children aged 2 to 13 years at Kenton College Preparatory School is Sh1.9 million while parents pay Sh1.8 million for their children in the same age group at German School Nairobi and Peponi House.
