Covering the Price of the Next Step

The costs of schooling do not end with the school term. They arrive in concentrated form at the points where a child moves from one level of education to the next, and it is at these points that some of the most preventable dropouts occur.

A child who has completed primary school may be unable to sit the national examination because her family cannot cover the registration fee. A child who has sat the examination and qualified for secondary school may be unable to take up the place because the cost of starting secondary is beyond what her family can manage. A child who has been progressing steadily through school may stop at the transition because the cost of the next step arrives at a moment when the family has nothing left. Sponsorship covers these costs so that a child who has completed one level of schooling is not stopped by the price of starting the next.

We cover examination registration fees. National examinations in Kenya carry a registration fee, and the fee must be paid before the child can sit the examination. For many families, the fee is not a large amount in itself, but it arrives at a time when the family is already stretched — usually at the end of a school year, when other costs have already accumulated. A child whose family cannot pay the fee may be told that she will not be registered, and in some cases, she is not. She may continue to attend class without sitting the examination, or she may be withdrawn from school altogether in the final months. Sponsorship covers the examination fee so that the child is registered, sits the examination, and receives the result that her years of schooling were meant to produce.

What Sponsorship Covers

Covering primary to secondary transition costs

Primary to Secondary Transition Costs

How it works:

  • We cover the costs of transitioning from primary to secondary school. This is the point at which many children who have been supported through primary school stop.
  • Secondary school in Kenya involves higher costs than primary, even where the government subsidy is in place. There are fees charged by the school, costs for boarding where the child is placed in a boarding school, transport to the school if it is far from home, and the materials the child needs to begin the new level — a new uniform that reflects the school's colours, a mattress and other boarding requirements where the child will be boarding, exercise books and stationery appropriate for secondary subjects.
  • Each of these costs is small on its own. Together, they are frequently more than a family can manage, and the child who has just completed primary school is left at home while her place at secondary school goes unfilled.

Examination and transition costs are among the smallest parts of what sponsorship covers, and among the most consequential. A child who has completed primary school and cannot sit the examination loses the certification that would have opened the next stage. A child who has qualified for secondary school and cannot take up the place loses the education that her performance had earned. When these costs are covered, the child continues. She moves from one level to the next. She progresses through the system that would otherwise have excluded her at the very points where its consequences are greatest.

A student who has transitioned to the next level of education

Examination and transition costs are concentrated at the points where a child moves from one level of education to the next. When they are covered, a child who has earned the next stage is not stopped by the price of starting it.

Our commitment

The costs of schooling arrive in concentrated form at the points where a child moves from one level of education to the next. Sponsorship covers these costs so that a child who has completed one level is not stopped by the price of starting the next.

Join us in covering transition costs

Help us ensure that a child who has earned the next stage is not stopped by the price of starting it. Support our campaign, volunteer your time, or partner with us to cover examination and transition costs across Kenya.

Every action counts—only a willingness to act is required.

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A student preparing for a transition examination

Covering the next step

The costs of schooling do not end with the school term. They arrive in concentrated form at the points where a child moves from one level of education to the next.