Safeguarding international schools in Kenya: country guide

Most international schools in Kenya are private schools in law, so the Basic Education Act 2013 applies to them. A private school cannot open or run unless it is registered (section 50). The County Education Board handles registration.

A private school must recruit registered teachers (section 52). The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) does the registering: a private school cannot be registered if a teacher it employs is not registered by the TSC (section 50). The County Education Board assesses the school, its teachers and its non-teaching staff in consultation with the TSC (section 52).

Accreditation sits on top of registration. Some international schools in Kenya publish accreditation from the Council of International Schools (CIS) and offer International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes. Ask your Head which body visits next and what it expects on child protection.

The rules may change. A Basic Education Bill, 2025 would make providers of foreign education systems apply to the Cabinet Secretary for approval, according to a Daily Nation report of 13 August 2026. Ask your lawyer where the Bill stands.

The Children Act 2022 (Act No 29 of 2022) covers every person under 18. Section 145(1) says anyone with reasonable cause to believe a child needs care and protection 'may' report it to the nearest authorised officer.

The Act lists a teacher as an authorised officer, next to police officers and children's officers. It also lists failure to report a case of child abuse inside its definition of child abuse. Section 22 makes child abuse an offence, with up to five years in prison, a fine of up to two million Kenyan shillings (KES), or both.

Read together, these lines may point to a duty to report. Courts decide how they fit, so ask counsel before you rely on either reading.

National guidelines are firmer for abuse that happens in a school. The 2018 case management guidelines say managers must tell the parents or guardians, the police and the children's officer immediately, and within 24 hours at most. They are policy, not statute.

Whatever the reading, treat every concern as one that must be passed on. Staff tell your designated safeguarding lead (DSL) the same day, and the DSL decides on any outside referral. Read more on how mandatory reporting laws work for international schools.

If a child is in immediate danger, call the police on 999, 112 or 911 first. Then follow your school's child protection procedure and tell your DSL the same day. Keep these contacts where staff can find them.

The 2018 national guidelines also name 116 and the police hotline as places to report abuse. The helpline listing carries no date, so confirm each number with a local source before you print it.

• 999, 112 or 911: the police hotline in the National Police Service charter.
• 116: Childline Kenya's national child helpline, listed as free and open every day, all day. The listing names English as its service language.
• Your local children's officer: a government child protection officer named in the Children Act. Agree the contact in advance and write it into your procedure.
• Your DSL: tell them the same day, every time.

Keeping children safe in education (KCSIE) applies to schools in England and has no legal force in Kenya. Many international schools still model their policy on it, which is a fair choice. See which parts of KCSIE travel abroad.

CIS and other accreditors expect the standards of the International Task Force on Child Protection (ITFCP). These cover allegation management, staff selection, reporting abuse, education for staff and students, policy in practice and links with the local community.

The two meet at reporting. A KCSIE-style policy sends every concern to the DSL, who decides on any referral. Kenyan law speaks of 'any person', and the 2018 guidelines set a 24-hour clock.

One procedure can meet both. Write these rules into it.

• Any adult may call the police or a children's officer if a child is in danger or the DSL cannot be reached.
• Tell the police and the children's officer within 24 hours when abuse happened in school.
• Agree with the children's officer in advance who tells the family, and when.
• Write down who you called, at what time, and what they said.
• Say in the policy that telling the DSL does not end a person's own legal duty.

The Data Protection Act 2019 treats your school as a data controller. Running an educational institution is on the list of activities that must register with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC). The ODPC's education sector note says this holds whatever the school's size.

Section 33 allows a school to process a child's data only with a parent or guardian's consent, and only in the child's best interests. Section 30 lists other grounds, such as a legal obligation or protecting someone's vital interests. Ask counsel which ground fits a safeguarding file, since a parent can be the concern.

Safeguarding files hold health and family details, which the Act calls sensitive personal data. Sending sensitive data out of Kenya needs the person's consent and proof of safeguards (section 49). Other transfers abroad need safeguards or a listed reason (section 48).

Regulation 26 of the Data Protection (General) Regulations 2021 goes further. Processing for early childhood and basic education under the Basic Education Act must use a server and data centre in Kenya. The other option is to keep at least one serving copy in a Kenyan data centre.

The ODPC's 2026 cross-border note repeats this rule. Ask counsel whether your school's records fall under it, and ask every software supplier where data sits. Report a breach to the ODPC within 72 hours when there is a real risk of harm (section 43).

Physical punishment is banned in Kenyan schools. Section 36 of the Basic Education Act bars torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment of a pupil, physical or psychological. The penalty is a fine of up to KES 100,000, up to six months in prison, or both.

The Children Act 2022 (section 25) lists torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, including corporal punishment, as an offence under the Prevention of Torture Act. The Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children reports that the ban now covers every setting, including the home.

A 2019 national survey cited there found that, among people aged 18 to 24, 47% of women and 57% of men agreed teachers need to use corporal punishment.

New local staff and some parents may still expect it. Your code of conduct should say that no adult may hit, slap, cane or humiliate a child. Train this in English and Kiswahili.

Section 24(4) of the Sexual Offences Act 2006 covers a head-teacher, teacher or school employee who abuses a position of authority over a pupil. The Children Act also covers online grooming and cyberbullying (section 22) and bans female genital mutilation and child marriage (section 23).

English and Kiswahili are Kenya's official languages (Constitution, Article 7). Drivers, guards, cooks and cleaners may be more at ease in Kiswahili or a home language. Train them in the language they use, and read translation versus localisation.

Ask every candidate for a police clearance certificate. The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) issues it to citizens and to foreign residents who are in Kenya. Applicants use the eCitizen portal and give fingerprints at a Huduma Centre or DCI headquarters.

Foreign citizens who have left Kenya follow a separate embassy or mission process, says the DCI. Its page gives no validity period, so set your own age limit and record the issue date.

Check TSC registration for every teacher. Anyone convicted of a sexual offence who hides it when applying to work with children commits an offence (Sexual Offences Act, section 30).

The same Act provides for a register of convicted sexual offenders, kept by the Chief Registrar of the Judiciary, and a person with reasonable cause may examine it (section 39(13)). Ask counsel whether a school has that cause and how to ask.

Add the checks from each country where staff have worked, and take references. The ITFCP publishes a safer recruitment checklist. Read safer recruitment in international schools.

Work through this list in your first month, and date each answer. This guide is general information, not legal advice, so confirm current law with a Kenyan lawyer and the relevant authority. The laws here come from the revised texts on Kenya Law, read on 19 October 2026.

• Get written advice from a Kenyan lawyer on reporting under the Children Act 2022.
• Put the police numbers, 116 and your children's officer's contact in the policy.
• Agree with the children's officer and police how reports work, including who tells parents.
• Check the school's registration, each teacher's TSC registration and the school's ODPC registration.
• Ask every software supplier where safeguarding records are stored and whether a Kenyan copy exists.
• Write a ban on physical punishment into the staff code of conduct, in English and Kiswahili.
• Collect a police clearance certificate, or the home-country equivalent, before any adult starts.