Before the advent of free primary education in January 2003, the cost of sending children to primary school was prohibitive. Because few families in the slums could afford the school fees, children were sent to the streets to sell groundnuts or to get money for food by any means possible.

Although primary education is now financially supported by the government of Kenya, MPC suppliments the work by providing additional number of teachers to reduce teacher-pupil ratio to a more appropriate level.

MPC operates four primary schools in the Mukuru slums, which cater for over 4200 children ranging in age from 6 to15 years. The school system in Kenya is very exam orientated. This is difficult for the slum children because of the lack of facilities and stimulation at home. MPC has introduced Child-Centred Education where the emphasis is on the individual child, the building of self-esteem, learning through play and discovery, and a positive approach through music, art and acrobatics.

All the MPC schools, in conjunction with World Food Programme and the Ministry of Education serve a hot meal daily to the children, in addition we also serve porridge at the short break time in the morning at St. Catherine's school. This is a wonderful incentive for the children to come to school, as very often there is little food at home. Last term many of the children at this school lost their homes and belongings when a big fire swept through their slum destroying everything in its path.

The four MPC-operated schools are:

KAYABA PRIMARY SCHOOL
 Kayaba school is located in the very centre of Mukuru slum. Back in 1985 when first constructed, it had an enrolment of 200 children that has grown very fast over the years and now caters for over 1200 children. There are thirty-two (32) teachers. The classrooms are very basic and are constructed with corrugated iron sheets. They have no ceilings and therefore get very hot during the dry season. During the rains the school ground is a sea of mud.

ST. BAKHITA’S PRIMARY SCHOOL
 There are over 800 pupils and twenty-seven teachers at this school. Access to this school, including access to the Head Office of MPC., The Children’s Residential Home, the Skills and Agriculture Unit is very difficult, as the River Ngong has to be crossed. When the river is flooded the bridge becomes submerged thus creating a death trap for people. During the last rains the bridge was severely damaged and is now impassable except for vehicles with a high clearance.

ST. ELIZABETH PRIMARY SCHOOL, LUNGA LUNGA
Largest of our primary schools with an enrolment of over 1320 children and 32 teachers, Lunga Lunga School performs very well in the academic field and their school choir usually appears in the top five in the country. The Lunga Lunga choir also has the distinction of producing a CD of their music. Unlike the other MPC schools Lunga lunga has a male Head Teacher. He originally came to the project as an untrained teacher and last year he had the honour of graduating from Nairobi University with his B.Ed. degree. This school has now been in existence for fifteen years, having started back in 1991.

ST. CATHERINE’S PRIMARY SCHOOL
Has an enrolment of over eight hundred children. The number of girls attending school is higher than the number of boys. Overall the daily attendance is quite good. Our Social Workers keep a close watch on the children and those who drop out are sought after and given some guidance and counselling and encouraged to return to school.

MPC sponsors needy students, who attain good grades in their final primary school examination to attend Secondary School

For those students who can not proceed to secondary school we have a Skills training