Education sector players voice demands for the year

Parents shop for books at Savanis Book Centre in Nairobi ahead of school opening, on December 31, 2025. [Kanyiri Wahito, Standard]

Players in the education sector are calling for urgent reforms to address funding shortfalls, staffing challenges, and uncertainty in the rollout of the new education structure.

Among the key demands for the setor this year is a review of funding for primary, secondary schools, and universities.

Stakeholders are also pushing for solutions to challenges in junior secondary schools, confirmation of intern teachers, and clarity on the transition to senior secondary school.

Parents, on their part, want urgent action to resolve teething problems facing senior secondary schools, whose first cohort of learners is expected to report on January 12.

Teachers’ unions, including the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET), are also bracing for a heated election season as they prepare to fill top executive positions.

At the university level, institutions are racing against time to recover academic time lost during a 49-day lecturers’ strike that paralysed learning. Universities closed for the December holiday before completing the semester.

Meanwhile, the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) is preparing to reshape assessment in secondary schools, with the 8-4-4 system now left with only two cohorts before it is phased out.

Interviews with school heads reveal growing concern over dwindling funding.

The Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KESSHA) says their schools received the lowest capitation funding in 2025.

Disbursement records show that schools have received less than half of the expected funds under the Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE) programme.

Documents seen by The Standard indicate that secondary schools have so far received Sh10,376 per learner this year, down sharply from the annual allocation of Sh22,244 per student.

According to the funding schedule, schools received Sh4,196.80 per learner in Term One, comprising Sh821.50 for tuition and Sh3,375.30 for operations. The Ministry of Education retained Sh260 from this amount.

In Term Two, the allocation dropped to Sh3,211.60 per learner, with Sh627 for tuition and Sh2,584.60 for operations, while Sh212.50 was retained.

By Term Three, capitation further dwindled to Sh2,968.23 per learner, comprising Sh828.80 for tuition and Sh2,139.43 for operations, with Sh126.69 being retained by the Ministry.

In total, the three disbursements amount to Sh2,277.30 for tuition and Sh8,099.33 for operations, bringing the total to Sh10,376.63 per learner. The government retained Sh599.19.

School heads say the drastic reduction has left many institutions struggling to stay afloat as the exam season approached.

Many schools reported that they were unable to meet basic costs such as feeding candidates, paying non-teaching staff, and settling utility bills.

KESSHA chairman Willie Kuria said the transition to senior school remains unclear, citing undefined placement rules, inadequate learning materials, and delayed printing of textbooks.

He warned that the uncertainty could derail the transition process.

“Talk to parents and you will find out how anxious they are on this senior school issue; they are completely in the dark. They have no idea what needs to be done; some are already calling us to book a slot for January admission,” Kuria said.

In junior secondary schools, the Kenya Junior School Teachers Association (KEJUSTA) has warned that instability could threaten the success of Competency-Based Education (CBE).

Junior school intern teachers have declared that they will not renew their contracts in January when their one-year internship expires, despite a new Teachers Service Commission (TSC) circular extending the internship for another year.

The circular, dated November 27, directs that all serving junior school interns continue under internship from January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2026 and instructs county officials to issue extension letters to avoid disruptions when schools reopen.

However, Kenya Junior School Intern Teachers chairman Nehemiah Kiprotich said the interns would not return under renewed internship terms.

He said that during a meeting with President William Ruto at State House on September 13, the President promised permanent and pensionable employment at the end of the contracts.

“If our contracts are not renewed, then we are not going back to class in January. This is a clear violation of our contracts; the courts have already pronounced themselves that the internship programme is illegal, so we cannot continue engaging in an illegality,” Kiprotich said.

Education stakeholders have also renewed calls for the separation of junior secondary schools from primary schools.

“Maybe the issue of the JSS teachers should also be addressed now, especially on the issue of internship. Also, the issue of the JSS in primary school has never been accepted. So I think we should address it further, because if those teachers remain that way, the education at that level may be disturbed,” a stakeholder said.

Universities are now preparing to recover time lost during the lecturers’ strike.

Vice Chancellors Committee chairman Daniel Mugendi said institutions will use the first weeks of January to complete teaching and administer end-of-semester examinations before commencing the new semester.

Prof Mugendi, however, called for enhanced funding as universities reopen on January 5.

“One of the prolonged issues in the education sector is the shortfall in funding and we hope that the government will continue to bridge that gap,” Mugendi said.

Universities are expected to receive a combined Sh4.2 billion starting Friday.