Betty Chemutai

Kenyan educator who created Africa's first mobile school buses to bring education to marginalized girls

Betty Chemutai is an education pioneer who transformed access to schooling for rural girls in Kenya. Born in 1978, she witnessed the systemic barriers preventing girls from attending school due to distance and cultural norms. In 2003, she launched the Mobile School Initiative, using converted buses as classrooms that travel to remote areas. This innovative approach has provided education to over 15,000 girls in 12 Kenyan counties.

Chemutai's program includes specialized training for female teachers and integrates STEM education through mobile labs equipped with solar-powered tech. Her initiative has a 92% graduation rate among participants, compared to the national average of 65%. She also developed the Girls' Leadership Curriculum, teaching negotiation and financial literacy skills to empower young women.

In 2015, she expanded her model to include the EduCycle Network, a fleet of bicycles distributed to students in mountainous regions. This initiative has reduced school dropout rates by 40% in target areas. Her TED Talk "Education on Wheels: Transforming Rural Kenya" inspired similar programs in Uganda and Ethiopia.

Chemutai's work has been recognized by the Global Education Prize and the UNICEF Innovation Award. She recently partnered with Microsoft to create digital learning modules for her mobile classrooms. Her advocacy led to Kenya's 2020 policy requiring all new schools to include girls-only facilities, a direct result of her grassroots data collection showing gender disparities.