Story of a Kenyan School Where Pupils Wear Vitenge Uniforms

Nakuru County is home to one of Kenya's most distinctive primary schools, Children in Freedom School, where students dress in African garb like Ankara and dashiki rather than the typical sweater, shirt, tie, and pants associated with other schools. 

Children in Freedom School's mission is to teach kids to accept and appreciate African culture while comprehending the difficulties that have enveloped the continent and developing solutions to address them.

When you enter the school compound, you are hit by the beauty of the unique dress code that the students don in. Instead of wearing the standard uniform, students dress in African-themed apparel that serves as the school's official uniform. 

If you think you have seen it all, you are hit by the fact that students address themselves using their African names and are taught a range of disciplines such as Luhya, Luo, Kalenjin, Kikuyu, and Kisii, among others.

Another distinguishing trait is that children are introduced to technology studies at a young age, and as a result, every student has an official school email address.

The school follows the CBC and 844 curricula but also includes classes that teach students life skills.

Oku Kanayo and Utheri established the school in 2018. According to its website, the two founded the institute because they were "fed up with the international rhetoric that paints the African continent as hopeless, backward, and in need of saving."

The school is built on essential pillars such as ubunifu (creativity), utambuzi (awareness), udadisi (curiosity), bidii (hard work), and ubuntu (a collaborative effort).

The school had its first batch of KCPE candidates in 2022, with a mean grade of 355 and the first student getting 406.

The school's distinctiveness has earned it prizes and recognition, the most recent of which came in June 2023, when the institution was named a finalist for the T4 Education initiative's World's Best School Prizes Award for preserving African culture.

The school fee ranges from Sh 40,000 to Sh 90,000 per term, depending on whether the student chooses day or boarding.