Still I Rise International School in Nairobi, Kenya, has become the first international school to offer a high-level diploma to vulnerable and refugee students free of charge after being officially included in the International Baccalaureate system as an IB Candidate School.
“This is an achievement that we’ve been anticipating for months”
“This is an achievement that we’ve been anticipating for months. We offer the best education and today, by becoming part of the IB system, we can say that we certainly are on the right track,” said Michele Senici, education director at Still I Rise.
“IB has approved our candidature; they recognise the value and potential of our school, the educational philosophy we apply and how we plan to grow and improve our community in the months to come.”
Still I Rise offers free education to vulnerable and refugee boys and girls who would otherwise be unable to afford it, with 137 students attending currently.
Of those, 49% are Kenyan and 51% refugees from countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia and South Sudan. At full capacity, the school will be able to offer the IB curriculum to 280 students.
With the program starting in January next year, Senici said that “the coming months will be a profound learning experience for all of us”.
“We will continue aligning ourselves with the IB philosophy in order to be able to offer not only the curriculum, but also the examination and the final diploma… I can’t even begin to say how excited I am about this achievement.”
