Dollarization of Kenya: A Case of Blatant Discrimination By Durham International School

A disturbed stakeholder has raised alarm over a unique type of veiled discrimination that is increasingly common in various Kenyan international schools.

Writing to this blog on Monday, December 12, 2022, the aggrieved parent spoke out against the Durham International School administration, strongly criticizing them for forcefully dollarizing the payment of tuition fees.

The school which offers the British curriculum has reportedly imposed this costly mode of payment on all guardians and deprived them of an avenue to air out any opposing views.

This leaves them prone to major inconveniences each time the dollar rate shoots up, which has become the norm recently.

Whenever they reach out to the management in protest, they are given the same old lame excuse that the school is currently financing a dollar loan, hence all payments strictly have to be made in that specific currency.

Concerns have also been raised regarding a widespread race-based prejudice targeting children of native parents.

The source notes that in schools like Durham and Light Academy, cases of students being taunted and teased by their foreign teachers have been on the rise.

Subsequent reports of this blatant racism are swept under the carpet by the administration.

Read the worrying submission in full below.

“Dear Cyprian Nyakundi.

Thanks for assisting Kenyans in the quest for justice by speaking the truth, always.

Kindly assist us to highlight a social issue of veiled discrimination and injustice that is occurring in some institutions of learning in Nairobi.

Increasingly, Kenyans are sacrificing their hard-earned income to educate their children in the vast international schools based in Kenya.

Sometimes parents want blended learning, starting in Kenya’s official system of CBC and sending children to International schools later.

Or vice versa.

Essentially, it is their right as Kenyans to enjoy whatever form of education they desire.

This inalienable right is under assault.

As scholars and pundits have often suggested, Kenya as a country sometimes seems more hospitable to foreigners and foreign investment as opposed to being concerned about the Kenyan residents and their well-being in the nation.

The comforts and interests of foreigners are placed at the expense of the average black Kenyan.

In direct confirmation of the statement above, there is a school offering the British curriculum (Durham International) that does not even bother to offer Kenyans a KSH rate to pay their fees.

They charge the fees in dollars, leaving helpless parents to suffer when the dollar rate shoots up, as is the norm.

Any attempts to ask the school to consider everyday Kenyans rather than foreign and expatriate communities, who are largely okay with dollars, are met with flimsy excuses about the financing of the school in a dollar loan.

Have we turned into Americans overnight? Or are we a foreign colony once more?

The reality is that our government has largely left Kenyans to be at the mercy of market forces and refused to streamline the booming industry of International education in Kenya.

Aside from obvious financial discrimination, young Kenyans are subjected to veiled racist discrimination.

In schools like Light Academy and German School, there are so many cases of children being taunted and teased by foreign teachers.

Some have even left the school without bothering to complain or highlight the discrimination to the public.

Any report on racism to the school administration is met with denial and ignored.

Most Kenyans adopt a polite social persona that is increasingly under attack, abuse and misuse by “investors” who want to cash in at their expense.

Can you imagine attending university in America and UK and insisting on paying in our Kenya Shillings?

Can a Kenyan survive in a foreign nation where they abuse others racially?

Experiences with other Africans are constant proof that East Africans (especially Kenyans) take on a very delicate persona that foreigners prey on aggressively.

Kenyans are perceived as the most unthreatening nation so there is an influx of foreigners with superiority complexes’ and outright disregard for them.

Please highlight this social issue and compel these institutions to treat the country they are based in with some respect.

Let them also realize Education is a basic need that needs to be dispensed with some regard above profit.

See a snippet from Durham International Prep School Invoice as well as the fees PDF attached,” the source revealed under the request of anonymity.

 

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