As director of ISD, I believe it is the goal of educators to help people understand the realities around them. I’m starting this blog to post ideas and information about education in the region and to give the English speaking community a place to communicate about their educational issues for their children. My hope is that parents are able to understand the realities of education and make good choices.
For starters, I’ve been getting a lot of questions from parents about all the international schools that are being established or that have existed in Djibouti. Three of the names are very similar, so you can see why there could be confusion. Please correct me if I have anything out of place in this post. Organizations are fluid and things like tuition and class offerings can change quickly. Here are your options for English based education for your children as far as I know:
1. International School of Djibouti. Non-profit/non-religious. PreK-12. The school is located in Gabode 5, 500 meters away from Lycee Technique de Gabode. There are aboout 50 kids at school in three sections. Tuition starting from ~$3,500 per year. American curriculum. Expatriate teachers. Website: www.internationalschoolofdjibouti.org
2. International School of Africa: Djibouti. For-profit/non-religious. PreK and up. Office located in Nagad past the US and Italian military bases. Tuition document I found gave the idea that tuition starts around $6,000 or $7,000 per year. Website: ?
3. Quality Schools International: International School of Djibouti. Non-profit/non-religious. PreK-8. Curriculum not clear to me (US or UK or their own). Contact their website for a location, somewhere in Haramous. Published tuition starting from around $20,000. Website: https://www.qsi.org/djibouti/djb
4. Horn of Africa School. Non-profit/religious. Located at the Catholic Cathedral. Tuition around $1,000 per year (or less). They follow a Kenyan curriculum. Teachers are mostly nuns from around Africa. K-6. No website.
5. ‘Indian’ School. K-6. Sorry, I don’t know the actual name of this school and I don’t have a lot of information about it. I believe it is located in downtown Djibouti. Follows an Indian curriculum. Tuition is on the lower end (<$100 per month?). No website.
If you know of any other schools that are using English based education feel free to post here. If you have more information about these schools or need to correct any of the above information, please contact me.
6. Turkish school. Turkey established the Marif foundation in 2016 after the coup attempt. This has fueled the establishment of schools in many countries. Djibouti is no exception. No website. Located in Haramous.
7. Saudi School. Religious. Saudi Arabia has also established a school in Djibouti in response to the need for Islamic education and to cater to the Arab population of Djibouti. Located in Haramous. No website. I think they do education in English and Arabic.