Mariella Furrer Photography

Feature Stories: Abolition of School Fees, Kenya

Overnight, more than a million additional children showed up for school last year when Kenya's newly elected government abolished fees that had been prohibitively high for many parents, about $16 a year. Many classrooms are now bulging with the country's most disadvantaged children. The photos have been taken in two schools in Kenya's coastal town of Malindi which has the most crowded schools in the country.The World Bank expects to spend $100 million on education in Kenya over 5 years. September 2004.

Rebecca Mwanyonyo, 35yrs, teaches a group of standard one students during an afternoon class at the Gahaleni Primary School.
   
Standard one students attend a morning class at the Gahaleni Primary School.
   
Due to the lack of school desks and chairs, standard one students use their legs to work on during an afternoon class at the Gahaleni Primary School
     
  
Rebecca Mwanyonyo, 35yrs and teacher of standard one students at the Gahaleni Primary School, distributes text books to her pupils. Children share a book between three of them.
  
Standard one students during an afternoon class at the Gahaleni Primary School.
   
Asha Charo, 12yrs, attends a standard one afternoon class at the Gahaleni Primary School in Malindi. In the mornings, Asha and her mother break stones to earn a living. Asha's father left her mother to be with his second wife in Tanzania. With the abolition of school fees Asha was able to attend school. Her mother says she will break as many stones as necessary for her daughter to finish school.
     
  
Rebecca Mwanyonyo, 35yrs, teaches a group of standard one pupils at the Gahaleni Primary School.
   
Standard one students at an afternoon class at the Gahaleni Primary School.
   
Due to the lack of desks and chairs in the class, standard one students write on the floor during an afternoon class at the Gahaleni Primary School.
     
  
A standard one student stays behind after class is dismissed to copy off the board at the Kadzuhoni Primary School.
   
Standard one students queue up to get their books marked by their teacher Rebecca Mwanyonyo at the Gahaleni Primary School.
   
A standard one students queues up to get their book marked at the Gahaleni Primary School.
     
  
Standard one students queue up to get their books marked by their teacher Rebecca Mwanyonyo, 35yrs, at the Gahaleni Primary School.
   
Selina Malungu, 8yrs, attends a morning standard one class at the Galaheni Primary School. Selina's father died in a car accident and she and her brother break stones for money. She has no uniform and says that the school children make fun of her and tell her she looks like a street urchin. When her one and only dress is dirty she doesn't go to school as she has to wait for the dress to be washed.
  
Young students perch themselves on rocks or sit in the sand at the Kadzuhoni Primary School.
     
  
Students put their hands up during a class with standard two teacher Randu Nzai, 42, at the Kadzuhoni Primary School. Nzai,married with 8 children, started school at the age of 13yrs due to his family being too poor to be able to afford his education. He teaches a class of 128 students and is a very dynamic.
   
Young students attend class (standard 2) at the Kadzuhoni Primary School.
   
A young boy looks at this teacher, Kandu Nzai, as he and the class give him a round of applause for completing a narrative infront of his standard two classmates at the Kadzuhoni Primary School.
     
  
Classroom of the standard two pupils during breaktime at the Kadzuhoni Primary School. No desks or chairs are available for the classroom so children sit on make shift benches, rocks or in the sand. The majority of school chidlren use a plastic shopping bag as their school bag.
   
Randu Nzai, 42yrs, listens to one of his pupils as he sits and marks books during a class of standard two students at the Kadzuhoni Primary School. Nzai,married with 8 children, started school at the age of 13yrs due to his family being too poor to be able to afford his education. He teaches a class of 128 students and is a very dynamic.
   
Standard students queue up to get their books marked at the Kadzuhoni Primary School. Many students can't afford school uniform and most go to school barefoot.
     
  
Randu Nzai, 42yrs, marks books during his class of standard two students at the Kadzuhoni Primary School. Nzai,married with 8 children, started school at the age of 13yrs due to his family being too poor to be able to afford his education. He teaches a class of 128 students and is a very dynamic.
  
A young student sharpens her pencil using a razor blade attend at the Kadzuhoni Primary School. Children cannot afford to spend money on luxuries such as pencil sharpeners etc.
   
Standard two students at the Kadzuhoni Primary School sing and dance during one of their lessons.
     
  
Two students during break time at the Kadzuhoni Primary School.