Over the past decade, intensive attention and investment have been directed at Kenya’s education sector as the government works toward industrialisation under the Vision 2030 national development plan – which was launched by former President Mwai Kibaki in 2008 and comprises a series of five-year implementation plans. The introduction of universal primary education and the abolition of secondary school fees have created a more inclusive system, improving a number of basic indicators. However, capacity constraints have led to a decline in quality and a serious teacher shortage.
Regional disparities and gender imbalances also remain concerns, but efforts to improve access to education among low-income families have had a positive impact, as will the private sector’s growing role in providing low-income secondary education. At the same time, a sharper focus on technical, industrial, vocational education and training (TIVET) activities will bolster employment outcomes, and new emphasis on ICT uptake will broaden access and enhance skills development.
Sector Structure
Kenya’s constitution makes education a right of every citizen, guaranteeing “free and compulsory” education to every child and providing access to affordable tertiary education, training and skills development. The current system was established in 1985 when then-President Daniel Arap Moi introduced the “8-4-4” framework: eight years of primary education, four of secondary and four at university. In recent years advocacy has increased to shift to a 2-6-6-3 model: two years in early childhood development (ECD) education, six years each in primary and secondary school, and three years at university.
Primary education starts at age six and has three stages: lower primary (ages 6-8 or grades 1-3), middle (ages 9-10 or grades 4-5) and upper primary (ages 11-13 or grades 6-8). Secondary education lasts four years (ages 14-17 or form 1-4). Entrance to secondary school depends on how students perform in the Kenyan Certificate of Primary Education exam, while admission to public universities is determined by the Kenyan Certificate of Secondary Education – both offered by the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC).
The education sector is overseen by the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology, which together set and implement policy. However, these are currently merging to form the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology as part of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s plan to cut the number of ministries in Kenya from 44 to 18. The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) is charged with hiring and managing the workforce in all public learning institutions except universities, while the Commission for University Education regulates universities and post-secondary programmes. The two ministries have undertaken a number of legal and regulatory reforms aimed at aligning the sector with the Kenyan constitution, the goals of Vision 2030 and international commitments such as the millennium development goals (MDGs), which aim to improve educational outcomes like primary school enrolment and literacy by 2015.
The MoE’s Strategic Plan 2008-12 identified a number of reforms that form the foundation of the first phase of Vision 2030, including improvements in ECD, gender equality, adult literacy, quality of education and school curricula. The plan incorporated policy objectives from several agendas, including the 2005 sessional paper “Policy Framework for Education, Training and Research”; the Kenya Education Sector Support Programme (KESSP); the country’s first Medium-Term Plan (MTP) running from 2008 to 2012; and the one-year Economic and Social Recovery Plan aimed at restoring stability following post-election violence in 2007-08.
Plan Pillar
Vision 2030 identifies educational development as a critical facet of the country’s industrialisation plan to 2030. Specific strategies to reach its over-arching goals are outlined in its constituent MTPs.
Kenya’s second MTP, for 2013-17, elaborates on Vision 2030 targets with a focus on improving links between education and the labour market, developing entrepreneurial skills and competencies, increasing the use of ICT in teaching and learning, and forging strong public-private partnerships (PPPs) to expand the sector. As areas needing improvement, the MTP identifies access, equity, quality, relevance, service delivery, curriculum, teacher development and management.
More recently, education policies have been enshrined in the 2013/14-2015/16 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), which aims to provide access to quality education and training at all levels, establish a professional teaching service for all educational institutions, create new technologies, and promote and coordinate development of science and technology. To achieve this, the MTEF works alongside Vision 2030.
Spending
Education is one of the state’s largest expenditures, growing from KSh214.05bn ($2.44bn) in 2011/12 to KSh257.73bn ($2.94bn) in 2012/13 and KSh275.66bn ($3.14bn) in 2013/14, or 22.9% of total expenditures. The 2013/14 budget allocated KSh10.3bn ($117.42m) towards free primary education, KSh2.6bn ($29.64m) for school meal programmes, KSh20.9bn ($238.26m) for free day secondary education and KSh1.17bn ($13.34m) for a secondary school bursary. For 2014/15, an estimated KSh36.62bn ($417.42m) was allocated to primary education, KSh29.75bn ($339.14m) to secondary, KSh5.67bn ($64.68m) to quality assurance, and KSh4.46bn ($50.85m) to administration, planning and support services. Within the State Department for Science and Technology, KSh56.13bn ($639.88m) was allocated to university education, KSh5.73bn ($65.32m) to TIVET activities, KSh772.16m ($8.8m) to research and innovation, KSh2.08bn ($23.71m) to youth training and development, and KSh1.77bn ($20.18m) to administration and support. Overall, education spending is projected to hit KSh288.71bn ($3.29bn) in the 2014/15 budget, of which KSH76.5bn ($872.1m) will go to the State Department for Education and KSH66.48bn ($757.87m) to the State Department for Science and Technology.
Universal Education
The Global Competitiveness Index 2013-14 ranks Kenya 44th out of 148 countries for quality of education, higher than Rwanda (51), Uganda (82), Tanzania (100) and Burundi (143). The introduction of universal primary education 10 years ago has lifted primary and pre-primary enrolment: state figures show more than 20,307 public primary schools enrolling nearly 10m children, with some 1.38m expected to begin primary school in 2014.
In its 2014/15 programme-based budget statement, the government reported significant achievements in 2012 and 2013. These include increasing primary school enrolment from 8.8m (4.5m boys and 4.3m girls) in 2010 to 9.97m (5.01m boys and 4.96m girls) in 2012, and boosting enrolment in ECD programmes from 2.19m in 2011 to 2.37m in 2013. The country’s primary gross enrolment ratio (GER) rose from 60.4% in 2011 to 66% in 2013, while the transition rate from primary to secondary education rose from 73.3% in 2011 to 76.6% in 2012. The gender parity index also improved, from 0.86 in 2011 to 0.88 in 2012. The number of secondary schools in Kenya rose from 7268 in 2010 to 8197 in 2012, while secondary enrolment grew from 1.66m (885,537 boys and 767,847 girls) in 2010 to 2.02m (1.08m boys and 943,969 girls) in 2013 – still below the target of 2.2m pupils by 2012. The secondary school GER reached 49.3% in 2012, from 42.5% in 2008, while the net enrolment rate went from 32% in 2010 to 33.1% in 2012. Much of this growth stems from former President Kibaki’s 2003 decision to eliminate public primary and secondary school fees, followed by a 2006 decision to abolish all fees for secondary school.
Challenges
A 2012 UNESCO study entitled “Education for All Monitoring Report” found that 1m Kenyan children were still out of school, the ninth-highest rate in the world. It also raised serious concerns about quality: among men aged 15-29 who had left school after six years of enrolment, 6% were illiterate and 26% semi-literate. For women, the figures were 9% and 30%.
Regional and gender disparities persist. The UNESCO report found that children from poor families, especially in the north-east, face a huge education gap: in 2008 in Nairobi, nearly all children from rich households had been to school, compared to 55% of girls and 43% of boys in the north-east. While this is a step up from 2003, when the numbers were 73% and 56%, respectively, much still needs to be done for equitable access.
Focus On Quality
To improve the quality of education, the state has launched programmes targeting under-served segments. The School Feeding programme, for example, in 2012 and 2013 provided midday meals to some 1.3m pre-primary and primary students in under-developed regions and slums. The government also set up a National Schools’ Rehabilitation Fund in 2011/12, upgrading 30 secondary schools to national status using KSh25m ($285,000) grants, and another 30 in 2012/13, according to the government’s 2014/15 budget statement. Other initiatives, such as the Gender in Education programme implemented in 2012/13, have aimed at boosting female enrolment in secondary school, including re-entry for young mothers and provision of sanitary products.
President Uhuru Kenyatta’s “Jubilee Alliance” coalition government has promised to increase education funding by 1% a year and by 2018 hopes to be putting 32% of government spending towards the sector. It wants to increase the number of schools in disadvantaged areas, cap class size at 40 students and recruit 40,000 new teachers. This will entail constructing or rehabilitating some 46,000 classrooms and 92,000 toilets at the ECD level, renovating 3000 classrooms at 1500 primary schools and building 60 new classrooms at special needs schools. Another goal is to see 90% of primary school students transition to secondary school by 2018 – and eventually 100% in line with Vision 2030. However, with education funding below 25% of state spending and transition rates below 80%, these targets seem optimistic in that timeframe.
Teacher Shortage
There are a number of challenges to reaching such goals. Although secondary school fees were abolished in 2006, the costs associated with secondary education – uniforms, textbooks, transportation – remain prohibitive for many families. Schools are overwhelmed by high numbers of students, and teachers are in short supply: student-to-teacher ratios reach 90:1 in some areas.
According to government reports, during the first MTP 29,060 teachers were employed, above the target of 28,000. During the second MTP, however, the average pupil-to-teacher ratio (PTR) at the primary level rose from 44:1 in 2007 to 57:1 in 2011/12, above the target of 42:1. The MTEF found that the teacher shortage is the sector’s biggest challenge, increasing from a deficit of 61,235 in 2010/11 to 75,574 in June 2012.
Quality has suffered as a result. The Brookings Institution reports that adult literacy stands at 87%. Kenya’s second MTP reported that just 61.5% of adults meet minimum literacy requirements, while just 29.6% have achieved the desired levels of literacy. This means that 7.8m Kenyans are effectively illiterate, including 29.9% of those aged 15-29 and 49% of those aged 45-49.
These problems are exacerbated by regular labour disputes between teachers’ unions and the government, most recently in July 2013, when 200,000 teachers went on strike over wages. A similar strike in September 2012 caused national examinations for both primary and secondary schools to be rescheduled.
Sector Workforce
Kenya has 22 public and 97 private primary school teacher training colleges which graduate an average of 11,500 teachers a year within a two-year programme, while public diploma teacher training colleges graduate 1340 a year within a three-year diploma. The government reports that each year 10,000 teachers are trained at a certificate level and 12,000 at the diploma level.
Financial constraints and challenges in teacher recruitment present opportunities for the private sector. According to the MTP, in 2008 just 10.8% of primary students and 12.3% of secondary ones were enrolled in private schools. While the growth of private secondary schools has been constrained by high costs, low-income private schools have proven popular. This, plus an under-utilised existing labour base, could provide private schools with cost-effective solutions. The Kenya Independent Schools Association, for example, is currently supporting growth in the informal sector, overseeing some 1600 independent community schools that serve the slums. Bridge Academies, a chain of private, low-cost schools, plans to enroll more than 1m primary students for fees of just $4 a month.
Digital Education
ICT holds a special place in the government’s long-term goals for education, and increased use of computers, distance-learning platforms and new technologies is a priority for the Kenyatta administration. The MTP reports that the current “e-readiness” of primary schools is poor, with a PC-to-pupil ratio of 1:1000. Only 200 schools have ICT equipment – indeed, many lack windows, doors and concrete floors. Government data show that just 2037 schools, or 10% of the total, are connected to the main power grid; 8147 are near the main grid, and the rest rely on solar or alternative power for electricity.
Teacher training colleges have had an ICT curriculum in place since 2004. Some 72,000 teachers are trained in ICT competencies, although the MTP reports that most of these remain unemployed, while current primary school teachers lack computer skills. In recognition of the ministry’s ICT mandate, two specialised units were established: ICT for Education, which is to spearhead the pedagogical use of ICT in schools, and the National ICT Innovation and Integration Centre, which tests technical solutions for use in curriculum delivery.
In 2013 the government introduced a programme to provide laptops to 1.35m students, allocating KSh53.2bn ($606.48m) to be rolled out in annual increments of KSh17.4bn ($198.36m). These funds are to be used to buy laptops, develop digital content and build teachers’ capacities and establish computer labs in secondary schools. However, in March 2014, the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board cancelled a tender that had been awarded to India’s Olive Technologies, effectively halting the first phase of the project, worth KSh24.6bn ($279.86m). The board ruled that Olive, which was to supply 40,000 laptops in February, lacked the financial capability to implement the project and had submitted a bid that was KSh1.4bn ($280.44m) above the stipulated threshold. In July 2014 Olive moved to challenge the board’s decision.
TIVET
As the government seeks to match curricula to labour market needs, TIVET activities have received increased focus and investment in recent years. Kenya currently has two national polytechnics, 24 technical training institutes, 14 institutes of technology, 817 youth polytechnics, one technical teachers training college and 706 private TIVET institutions. Between 2010/11 and 2012/13 the State Department of Science and Technology undertook various initiatives to expand training facilities in TIVET. Later, the TIVET Act of 2013 established three new agencies: the TIVET Authority; TIVET Curriculum Development, Assessment and Certification Council; and the TIVET Fund. The state also moved to create eight new campuses at existing institutions and set up five new technical training institutes in underserved regions. According to the second MTP, the number of registered TIVET institutions reached 813 by 2013, of which 493 were fully registered. The Higher Education Loans Board began funding TIVET students through a bursary programme in 2011/12, with an initial allotment of KSh100m ($1.14m) distributed to 8000 students. Total enrolment in TIVET programmes nearly doubled from 36,586 in 2009/10 to 79,114 in 2010/11, according to the MTEF. As universities continue to seek out ways to absorb high numbers of secondary school graduates, TIVET programmes are set to expand greatly over the medium term (see analysis).
OUTLOOK
The last decade has seen a number of promising signs for education in Kenya, although the country is unlikely to meet its targets for government spending, enrolment and graduation in the short term. Despite a growing budgetary allocation, the sector continues to face significant challenges in funding, service quality and teacher shortages. As a key part of Vision 2030’s social development pillar, the sector has much room to improve in indicators such as enrolment, transition from primary to secondary school and literacy.
Nonetheless, opportunities for private sector investment in secondary education, a growing emphasis on ICT uptake and vocational training, and new efforts to assist low-income students bode well for the sector. As the government moves to reform and expand the post-secondary segment, build new schools and adopt digital learning platforms, Kenya’s knowledge economy is well poised to grow strongly over the next 10 years.
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