Choosing a coding class for your child in Kenya: 9 questions to ask before you pay

A study by Koa Academy, reported in February 2026, found about 80 percent of Kenyan parents know online schooling exists. Only 9 percent have ever enrolled a child. Parents said they rank the teacher and the relationship with the teacher about as high as the content. For many, the picture of online learning still comes from lockdown: inconsistent, loosely supervised, and lonely for children.

If you hesitate before paying for an online coding class, you’re in the majority, and for good reasons.

The usual way to choose is to compare prices and look for a certificate. Both tell you little. A certificate costs a provider nothing to print, and a low price says nothing about who will sit with your child for 90 minutes. Ask these instead.

The nine questions

1. Who teaches my child, by name, and do they stay all term?

You want a name and a face, and you want the same person every session. Children open up to a teacher they know. A rotating cast of tutors resets the relationship every week.

2. How many children are in a group?

Ask for the maximum, not the average. In my experience, above about 15 a teacher running a live coding session struggles to see every screen. One-to-one lessons cost more, and some children do better with peers.

3. Are sessions live or recorded?

Recorded videos are cheap to make and easy to ignore. A live session means a teacher sees your child stuck and helps. Ask what happens when your child is stuck during a live session. A good answer describes a specific routine.

4. What will my child finish with, for me to see?

This is the question providers dodge most. Push for something concrete: a game you play, a program you run, a chess game written down and replayed. “Confidence” and “21st century skills” are fine words, and neither fits in your hand.

5. How do you put children into groups?

By age alone is a warning sign. A quick seven-year-old and a careful twelve-year-old need different groups. Ask if there’s an assessment or placement session first.

6. What happens if my child gets bored or falls behind?

Children lose interest, and the reason is usually the level, too easy or too hard. Ask how fast the provider moves a child to another group, and who decides.

7. What happens to my child’s data, image and recordings?

Kenya’s Data Protection Act sets rules here. The Data Protection Commissioner’s guidance on children’s data says processing a child’s personal data needs verifiable consent from a parent or guardian, and a school should not publish a child’s name, photo or scores without it. Ask: Do you record sessions? Who sees the recordings? Do you post children’s work or faces on social media? Do children message each other privately?

A provider who records your child, posts their face and lets strangers message them has answered question seven for you.

8. What do you promise for school grades, and what’s your evidence?

Many coding and chess programmes promise better maths marks. Ask for the study. The largest review of chess research found the effect shrinks as studies get stronger, and a randomised trial of 4,009 English pupils found no improvement in test scores. A provider who promises grades without evidence will promise other things too.

9. Is there a trial, and how do we leave?

A free first session lets your child and the teacher meet before money moves. Then ask how payment works. Monthly payment means you decide each month. A full term up front means you’re committed even if the fit is wrong.

Now turn the questions on us

Fair is fair. Our answers are below. Check them against what you see.

Do your own checking

Read the Koa Academy coverage and the data protection guidance yourself, the links sit below. Ask two other parents what they asked before they paid, and what they wish they had asked.

The right class for your child is the one whose answers you checked and believed. Price comes after.