AKIBA SCHOOL HISTORY
In January 1993, the late Dr Edith Wanjiku Gitau’s life mission came to the fore when she took a bold step to fulfil a promise she made to God and her country in 1960 – the promise to fight ignorance and poverty through provision of quality and holistic education based on strong Christian faith values. In January 1993, she established Akiba School in Kangemi, Nairobi.
‘Elimu ni Akiba; Education is a treasure’ was Edith’s mantra. This mantra gave the school both its name and its slogan. Akiba School was the first private low-cost school to be established in Kangemi slums and was founded on the Christian principles of Faith, Hope and Charity. The school originally provided education to local children from baby class through to high school. However, in 2017, after some tough sessions of deliberations, the school Board of Management resolved to close the high school (old curriculum 8-4-4) and focus on the primary school education, to allow growth and more professional approach of administration in preparation of the new curriculum CBC. Since the decision to focus on the pre-primary, primary school and Junior school, we can report that the school population is stable and growing, with quality and delivery of the curriculum content being the core. The school continues to serve Kangemi and other neighboring communities with plans to expand in other areas.
In an effort secure the school’s future and sustainability to achieve its founder’s ‘dream’, Akiba School has an advisory Board of Management. The BoM has a sole mandate of offering professional guidance and expand school’s networks of friends and other entities to support the school to achieve its mandate. We are excited to announce that the students have responded well to the efforts that school management has made and have produced great results in the last KCSE exams: In 2020 the mean score was 275 and out of 18 students who sat for exams in 2021, 10 students scored above 300 points with the top student scoring 400 points! In 2022 and 2023 more students scored over 400 marks and secured admissions in National schools, extra county schools and county schools around the country. This performance has continued to up to date. The school is admitting grade 9 in 2025.
This is not only a testament to the late Dr Edith’s vison, passion and commitment but to the calling that her family, school teaching and non-teaching staff, and Board of Management. To her last day, her heart and mind were focused on serving and blessing the school and the students of Akiba.
The school has invested heavily on human capital, infrastructure and other learning supporting facilities. The teachers are qualified and are registered with teachers’ service commission. The school is also a member of Kenya Private School Association (KPSA) which is an umbrella body for private schools in Kenya and pays an important role.
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Over the past 20 years of its existence, the school has lifted many students from ignorance and poverty of the slum by providing quality education and mentorship. The school currently has a student population of about 385 students. Most of the students are from single-parent families or are orphans and former street children. Akiba School is a center of empowerment. We strive to maximize the children’s potential. We encourage them to look at life positively despite the existing disadvantages – to live life to the full and to be a light in this dark world. The school that began with a promise and a girl named Faith, has now served thousands with a quality Christian education and the opportunity for a brighter future.
In 2019, Akiba made a strategic decision to phase out its Secondary School in order to focus attention on strengthening the Primary School. We are committed to offering world-class Primary education.