Mwalimu for Hire: The Rise of Private Tutoring in East Africa
Education in East Africa remains a global concern, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic, which exacerbated existing challenges, as evidenced by World Bank Group projections that about 66 million children, adolescents, and youth in Sub-Saharan Africa will be out of school by 2030. This alarming statistic underscores the urgent need for comprehensive educational reforms across the region. In response, educators, investors, and policymakers across the region are driving positive transformations through initiatives like Kenya's Tusome programme, the Democratic Republic of Congo's elimination of primary school fees, and Tanzania's results-based financing education programme, all of which have significantly boosted enrolment despite the long road ahead.
Parallel to these systemic reforms, tutoring has emerged as another vital educational tool with ancient roots dating back to Greek instruction, where wealthy children received individualised instruction from philosophers, and continued through the Middle Ages as nobles employed private tutors for their children. Today, this tradition persists for students at all levels who increasingly utilise various forms of tutoring to support their studies, demonstrating its enduring educational value. In East Africa, students, parents, and educators have turned to various forms of tutoring, including in-person sessions, digital platforms, group classes, and specialised test preparation.
Drivers and Trends
The growth of private tutoring in East Africa is driven by multiple interrelated factors, with high-stakes national examinations standing out as the primary catalyst. High-stakes exams such as Kenya's KCSE (Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education) and KCPE (Kenya Certificate of Primary Education), Uganda's UNEB (Uganda National Examinations Board), to name a few, play a decisive role in determining secondary school placement, university admission, and future career prospects.
While high-stakes exams serve important functions such as placing students in academic tracks, facilitating student progression through grade levels, and deciding high school graduation eligibility, their intense focus has negative consequences. They often degrade educational aims, limit the curricula, constrain teachers, frustrate students, and curtail access to post-secondary education. In this high-pressure environment, parents and students increasingly view private tutoring as essential for gaining a competitive edge. Tutoring provides targeted exam preparation, personalised attention often lacking in overcrowded classrooms, and strategies specifically designed to maximise test scores.
East Africa represents a dynamic market of countries experiencing economic growth, but the region still meets most of the preconditions required for successful education investment, including improved infrastructure, road and transport networks, and advances in mobile payment and technology. However, gaps in public education persist, among which are overcrowded classrooms, inconsistent teacher quality, and strained infrastructure – challenges that private tutoring can help address by complementing and enhancing the existing education system.
Since education is widely regarded as a pathway out of poverty in East Africa, the growing competitiveness of university enrolment has prompted the growing middle class of parents to prioritise tutoring as a means of ensuring better chances of success for their children. A report by the African Development Bank found that ‘60% of urban households in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania spend 10-30% of their income on private tutoring, and 75% of parents believe tutoring improves exam performance’. While these figures are more reflective of trends in urban areas, with competitive school entrance exams and scholarship, they reveal a pervasive culture where high-stakes exams dominate educational priorities.
This exam-centric culture has fundamentally reshaped East Africa’s educational landscape. As passing standardised tests becomes synonymous with academic success, private tutoring transitions from a supplemental resource to a necessity, reinforcing inequalities for students who cannot afford it while sustaining a system that prioritises test performance over holistic learning.
Market Opportunities
Over the past decade, Africa has been steadily embracing artificial intelligence (AI) across various sectors, with education being a particularly promising area for technological innovation. The rapid utilisation of the internet throughout the past few years, spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, has caused a surge of online tutoring that has accelerated the integration of AI into education systems across Africa. A prime example is Kenya’s competency-based curriculum (CBC), a system designed to prepare learners for real-world challenges by emphasising digital literacy and practical skills. The CBC operates on the premise that exposure to modern technologies is essential for future-ready education, enabling easier access to AI-related tools for teaching and learning.
This approach has led to innovations like the CBC app, a digital tool developed to simplify assessments and support both reporting processes and record-keeping in Kenyan schools. The app helps teachers and school administrators create personalised learning pathways aligned with students’ competencies. Particularly impactful for rural students, the app provides access to more online learning opportunities than are typically available locally, serving as a powerful tool to elevate educational outcomes.
AI-powered EdTech platforms like M-Shule and Eneza Education are already making a difference, especially in underserved communities. Platforms like Eneza Education have been shown to improve literacy and school performance of children living in rural areas. These platforms provide crucial alternatives for parents who lack the resources for traditional school supplies, offering accessible digital teaching tools. Such innovations illustrate the power of technology to bridge educational gaps through online tutoring solutions.
The expansion of tutoring, along with the integration of technological innovation, creates opportunities for tutoring for teachers, university professors, among others. Findings such as those of the British Council’s 2022 Next Generation Kenya Report highlight that young Kenyans are increasingly turning to digital platforms for freelance work, including online tutoring. Other reports, like the UNESCO 2021 Global Education Monitoring Report, estimate 24-28% of urban East African teachers tutor privately.
Challenges
While the tutoring market in East Africa offers lucrative opportunities, it also presents challenges that require careful consideration. The foremost issue is scalability – how effectively tutoring programmes can expand their reach. Tutors typically come from an existing pool of teachers and paraprofessionals, community members, university students, and secondary school students. Urban areas with higher educational attainment levels benefit from a robust tutoring market, while rural communities continue to struggle with access and affordability. If left unaddressed, this disparity, paired with the current tutoring boom, risks exacerbating educational inequality between urban students and rural students.
The accessibility gap in rural areas stems from multiple factors. Tutoring services often remain unaffordable for low-income families, while systemic barriers like poor infrastructure, limited social services, and lower parental education levels create additional hurdles for learners. Children in these regions face challenges such as difficult commutes to school, higher dropout rates due to family health crises, and limited academic support at home, all of which deepen the educational divide between rural and urban education. To address this, subsidised digital tutoring programmes and school partnerships can improve access and help bridge the inequality between urban and rural areas.
Conclusion
East Africa’s education landscape stands at a critical juncture, where the growing demand for quality learning intersects with both innovative solutions and persistent systemic challenges. The rise of private tutoring – fueled by high-stakes examinations, technological advancements, and a burgeoning middle class – reflects the region’s determination to overcome gaps in public education. Initiatives like AI-driven EdTech platforms and competency-based curricula demonstrate the transformative potential of digital tools, particularly in bridging the urban-rural divide.
Yet, unchecked expansion risks deepening inequalities. While tutoring offers targeted support for students and income opportunities for educators, its urban-centric accessibility and reliance on private investment threaten to exclude marginalised communities. Sustainable progress requires smart regulation to ensure quality, affordable digital solutions to bridge gaps, and policies that integrate tutoring as a complement, not a replacement for strong public education. The tutoring revolution must uplift all learners, not just those who can pay.
