Ruto's education gamble faces tough test before 2027

One year to the 2027 General Election, time is running out for President William Ruto to complete planned reforms in the education sector, with funding challenges in universities and secondary schools and persistent teacher shortages threatening to complicate the government’s plans.

The administration has rolled out major changes across the education sector since taking office, but several of the reforms remain unsettled, leaving the President with a narrowing window to demonstrate results before Kenyans return to the ballot.

Despite the education budget growing from about Sh544 billion in 2022/23 to more than Sh700 billion in 2026/27, the additional billions have failed to ease mounting pressure in the sector.

The ripple effects have left universities sinking deeper into debt, secondary schools struggling with inadequate capitation and persistent teacher shortages.

The latest flashpoint has been the struggle to get the university funding model right, with the government now working on another overhaul after the current system failed to address the financial crisis facing public universities.

Initially set out to address the funding challenges in public universities, the President in 2023 moved away from the previous model, which provided funding to universities through direct government grants, and introduced a student-centred financing model.

Under the new system, funding was to follow students based on their financial needs, with scholarships and loans allocated according to the level of need.

Three years later, the model has come under pressure, with the government struggling to provide sufficient funding to meet the cost of supporting students in universities.

The funding gap has continued to widen as universities grapple with mounting debts, rising operational costs and inadequate government funding.

The government is now seeking to overhaul the system again, with proposals to replace the current arrangements with an integrated financing framework that will bring together the Higher Education Loans Board, the Universities Fund and the TVET Financing Board under a new Tertiary Education Funding Authority.

The proposed model is also expected to rely more heavily on loans, while scholarships would be reserved for exceptional performers and vulnerable students.

The government has further proposed mobilising up to Sh100 billion annually through multiple sources, including education bonds, private investors, parents, graduates and development partners.

But whether the proposed changes will resolve the university funding crisis remains to be seen, with the 2027 General Election now less than a year away even as colleges and universities continue to face increasing drop out rates.

Fresh figures tabled before the National Treasury in the Education Sector Report 2026/27–2027/28 reveal that student numbers dropped from an all-time high of 680,768 in the 2023/24 academic year to 547,092 in 2024/25.

The university funding crisis is not the only challenge facing the President as he seeks to complete his education reforms before the end of his first term.

The government also faces a growing funding problem in secondary schools, where the amount of capitation reaching institutions has continued to fall.

Under the Free Day Secondary Education programme, the government is expected to provide Sh22,244 per student annually.

However, schools have in recent years received significantly less than the prescribed amount, with the actual allocation falling to about Sh14,000 per student.

This is about Sh3,000 less than the Sh17,000 per student that the government was providing when President Ruto took office in 2022.

The allocation was already below the Sh22,244 required to fully finance the Free Day Secondary Education programme.

The continued decline in capitation has left schools struggling to meet their operational costs, with institutions reporting difficulties in paying suppliers and providing essential teaching and learning materials.

The funding shortfall has also added pressure on school heads, who have been forced to operate with resources below the amount required to support the growing number of learners.

The government has continued to allocate billions of shillings to support basic education, but the funds available per learner have failed to match the amount required to run the programme.

Similarly, the funding shortfall has also continued to shift extra levies to parents, despite the government’s Free Educationpolicy

“Parents continue to meet various costs associated with their children’s education, including learning materials, meals, transport, examinations and other school-related expenses. This has particularly those from poor households,” Boaz Waruku Policy and Strategy advisor for the Elimu Bora Working Group (EBWG), argues.

He argues that parents will also be watching closely as the cost of education continues to rise, and extra levies and could shape their voting decision next year.

The situation has also put school heads in a difficult position, with institutions expected to provide education under a programme described as free while operating with funding below the amount required to meet the cost of running the schools.

The President will also be facing an uphill task in confirming intern teachers to permanent and pensionable terms before

With the 2027 General Election approaching, the government is set to disrupt the existing arrangement under which teachers serve as interns for two years before being confirmed on permanent and pensionable terms.

Speaking while presenting the 2026/27 Budget Statement in Parliament on Thursday, Treasury CS John Mbadi said the government would convert 20,000 intern teachers to permanent and pensionable terms from January 2027.

The teachers were recruited as interns in 2025, meaning they will have completed the traditional two-year internship period by the time they are confirmed.

A further 24,000 intern teachers recruited this year will be converted to permanent and pensionable terms in July 2027.

The second group will, however, have served for only 18 months before confirmation, six months earlier than the two-year period that has traditionally been required.

The planned conversions will push the total number of teachers employed under President William Ruto’s administration to about 100,000.

President Ruto has in different settings taken pride in the recruitment drive, contrasting it with the previous administration, which he has said employed an average of about 5,000 teachers annually.

The large-scale recruitment has, however, largely been driven by the introduction of Junior Secondary School (JSS) under the Competency-Based Curriculum, a section of the education system that did not exist under the previous 8-4-4 system.

The introduction of JSS created the need for additional teachers, classrooms, textbooks and other learning resources to support the new level of education.

Despite the large-scale recruitment, junior schools continue to face staffing shortages, with education stakeholders saying many institutions have only about four teachers.

The shortages have left teachers handling subjects outside their areas of training, while some schools have been forced to deploy primary school teachers to teach at the junior secondary level.

“Teachers are still forced to teach subjects that they did not train for because of massive understaffing. The number of teachers is not enough. In some cases, the schools are even forced to deploy primary school teachers to handle some of the subjects,” said Junior School National Kuppet Secretary Omari Omari.

At the same time, the government is also facing growing concerns over teachers’ welfare, including the provision of medical cover and sluggish promotion.

The teachers’ medical scheme has remained a major concern, with delays in funding and disputes over the availability of medical services affecting teachers and their dependents since its switch to the government run Social Health Authority.

The challenges have raised questions over the sustainability of the scheme and whether the government will be able to guarantee reliable medical cover for teachers.

Teachers have also continued to raise concerns over promotions, with thousands remaining in the same job groups despite having served for years.

Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers secretary general Akelo Misori in an interview with the Standard revealed that over 150,000 teachers have stagnated in the same job group some for over a decade.

“We are pushing for the promotion of at least 100,000 teachers by July next year, that will have addressed the issue of stagnation,” Misori said.

Parents will also be on the lookout as they face increasing charges of extra levies under the William Ruto administration with little to no action to safeguard the parents.