A charitable Institution, Incorporating a National High School and Skills Training Programme for girls
Starehe Girls Centre is a National boarding school that offers secondary education to financially disadvantaged girls from all Counties of Kenya. The school was founded in January 2005 as a charitable institution. It emulates the spirit of the much renowned Starehe Boys Centre. It caters for all the girls academic and social needs.
Starehe Girls Centre stands on land originally belonged to Mr. Duncan Gray and Mrs. Jane Auld Gray. They sold the land to Limuru Girls Centre which was opened in May 1982 under the Trusteeship of Dr. M. P. Chandaria (Chairman), Mr. Eliud N. Njoroge, Mr. Jeffrey Robin Mein, Dr. Eddah Gachukia and Mrs. Lucy Gitonga. The Limuru Girls Centre closed in the year 2002, after 20 years of successful training of young women in agricultural extension services. After the Centre closure, Eddah Gachukia approached the chairman Dr. Manu Chandaria and the other Trustees, wondering if there was any possibility of using the assets of Limuru Girls Centre to create the Starehe Girls Centre. The Trustees warmly welcomed the idea. The Idea of a Starehe Girls Centre had been explored for a long time without success.
In the Year 2003 the Trustees of Limuru Girls Centre agreed to have the land leased to the Trustees of the then proposed Starehe Girls Centre at a peppercorn rent. This was a very generous gesture because the search for land on which to create the Starehe Girls Centre undertaken by Eddah Gachukia and Mrs. Eunice Mathu had reached a dead end. The Trustees founding the proposed Starehe Girls Centre included Dr. M. P. Chandaria (Chairman), Dr. Geoffrey Griffin (Director, Starehe Boys Centre), Dr. Eddah Gachukia, Mrs. Lucy Gitonga, Mrs. Eunice Mathu, Mrs. Margery Kabuya, Mrs. Honorine Kiplagat, Prof. Wanjiku Kabira and Mr. Eliud Njoroge. Mr. Julius Kipng’etich joined the Board when Prof. Kabira resigned.
Besides the 55 acres of land, the Starehe Girls Centre also inherited three small dormitories, four classrooms, a few staff houses and offices.
In January 2005, seventy two (72) bright but financially disadvantaged girls, from every county in Kenya, were admitted. The Centre was launched by the then First Lady, Her Excellency Mama Lucy Kibaki, on 12th February, 2005 at a function that witnessed donations in cash and kind. Dr. Griffin donated Kshs. 20 million that he had saved for the education of Starehe girls. Thereafter, many local and foreign friends and companies joined the Centre in the development of the infrastructure and the sponsorship of the girls. The stated aim was and still remains To provide high quality multi-disciplinary education of Kenyan girls from orphaned and destitute families; to enable such girls to develop life skills and provide the relevant support needed for them to achieve their dreams and ambitions.
Starehe Girls Centre was founded on the principles and ethos of the Starehe Boys Centre, collectively known as The Starehe Way. The School motto: Our Education, Our Strength (Elimu Yetu, Nguvu Yetu) reflects the spirit of academic excellence that permeates the culture of the Centre. The founders of Starehe Girls Centre set out, not merely to provide food, clothing and protection to girls in need, but to restore in them the self-confidence and self-respect so often injured by earlier misfortune in life and to provide them with a sound education to serve them well an increasingly competitive world.
Vision
A Starehe fraternity, serving, leading and transforming society
Mission
To provide care and education for girls in need and inspire them to transform into productive and exemplary members of society