The education sector is facing a myriad of challenges in Kenya with recent revelations of underfunding and delays in disbursements for both higher learning and basic education.
Higher education
faces a critical funding crisis as of 2026, characterized by a Sh260 billion
shortfall for the 2026/2027 financial year.
Despite the new
student-centered Variable Scholarship and Loan Funding (VSLF) model introduced
by President William Ruto in 2023, public universities are drowning in debt.
At least 23 universities risk insolvency and has accumulated
billions in pending
bills.
Public universities
are struggling with unpaid bills totalling Sh85.28 billion as of January 31,
2026 with major institutions like the University of Nairobi, Technical
University of Kenya, and Kenyatta University holding some of the highest debts.
The "new"
funding model introduced in 2023 faces criticism as it shifts from block grants
to student-centered funding.
Critics argue the Means Testing Instrument (MTI) used
for categorizing needy students is flawed, potentially limiting access for poor
students.
Despite scholarships
and loans, households still struggle with the high cost of living and
additional expenses like accommodation, food, and transport, which are not
fully covered.
Delayed funding from
the government hinders university operations, causing persistent delays in
paying staff salaries, statutory deductions (taxes/pensions), and routine
maintenance.
Public universities
have seen an 81.6% increase in state-sponsored students while funding has not
kept pace, leading to strained facilities.
Just last month, it
was reported that funding for 379,858 university and TVET students through the
Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) hangs in the balance due to a Sh32.9
billion deficit in the current education calendar.
The State Department
for Higher Education says Helb was allocated Sh41.5 billion for the 2025–26
financial year against a requirement of Sh74.4 billion to support 1,104,157
university and TVET students.
Higher Education
Principal Secretary Beatrice Inyangala said the allocated amount can only
support 650,267 students, leaving 453,889 eligible applicants without support.
“The proposed
supplementary budget allocation of Sh4.1 billion will support 74,031 students
at an average of Sh55,639 per student. This will leave 379,858 students not
funded,” Inyangala told the committee chaired by Tinderet MP Julius Melly when
she appeared before MPs.
Data from the
ministry shows that 575,663 university students applied for loans in the
2025–26 financial year, but only 358,832 applications were approved, leaving
216,831 students locked out.
Out of 528,493 TVET
applicants, 291,435 received funding, while 237,058 learners missed out.
To fully fund all
university students, Helb requires Sh55.1 billion, but only Sh30.9 billion was
allocated, leaving a deficit of Sh24.1 billion.
Resources needed for
2026-27 total Sh47.36 billion, while only Sh17.92 billion has been allocated,
leaving a gap of Sh29.44 billion.
By 2026-27,
cumulative scholarship deficits could hit Sh51.7 billion, threatening the
sustainability of the model introduced in 2023 to improve equity.
The Kenya Association of Private Universities
(KAPU) has also threatened legal action over unpaid fees for students placed
through Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS),
amounting to Sh45.77 billion.
And last week, the
Ministry of Education and Treasury were under the spot with revelations of
underfunding and delays in disbursement of capitation monies that has
threatened the free primary and secondary education in the country.
Despite the
Constitution under Article 53 making basic education free and compulsory, MPs
asked the ministry to acknowledge that the government had failed on this
mandate and was instead offering subsidized education.
This after Basic
Education Julius Bitok revealed that although the government policy sets
capitation at Sh22,044 per secondary school learner, schools have instead been
receiving an average of Sh15,844.38, leaving a significant deficit that has
strained operations in public schools.
He disclosed that
between the 2020/21 and 2023/24 financial years, underfunding across secondary
schools alone amounted to more than Sh71 billion, while Junior Secondary
Schools recorded a deficit of Sh31.9 billion. Primary schools and special needs
education also faced significant shortfalls.
At secondary level,
he said underfunding rose to about Sh76.9 billion, with the funding gap
widening as enrolment increased from 3.3 million learners in 2020/21 to over 4
million in 2023/24.
“Despite this, the
approved budget increased only marginally, resulting in a growing deficit that
reached more than Sh25.8 billion by 2023/24. The number of learners not
provided for increased from 724,959 to 1,161,349,” he said.
“Who foots that
particular deficit of capitation? You should make a policy directive that we
are not having free education but subsidised education,” Funyula MP Wilberforce
Oundo quipped.
Mathioya MP Edwin Mugo drew
parallels with financial pressures in higher education, calling for a broader
review of unpaid obligations in schools.
“We had an issue of pending bills
in universities which made public institutions unsustainable. Can we have an
analysis on the pending bills in secondary schools?” Mugo posed.
Lugari MP Nabii
Nabwera argued that the value of capitation had significantly eroded over time
due to inflation, saying the current funding levels were far below what was
originally intended.
“The capitation is
actually 12,000 and not 15,000 if we factor inflation because the value of
money now and when the capitation was calculated is not the same,” Nabwera
said.
Critics are saying
some of the funding challenges are due to wrong priorities by the Ruto
administration with Kirinyaga Woman Rep Njeri Maina questioning the allocation
of billions to State House operations while the education sector faces
persistent funding challenges.
“We have seen the
State House budget they have spent is Sh89 billion in the last three years. We
know that former president Uhuru Kenyatta spent about Sh100 billion in ten
years. That means our president does not want to know whether children will go
to school or not. He does not want to know if classrooms will be built,” Ms
Maina argues.
KNBS Economic Survey
of 2026 indicates that the total number of basic learning institutions
increased from 129,463 in 2024 to 130,659 in 2025.
The number of
pre-primary schools increased to 48,190 in 2025 from 47,760 in 2024. The number
of primary schools increased to 39,339 in 2025 from 38,997 in 2024.
Junior schools
increased from 31,951 in 2024 to 32,079 in 2025, while secondary schools
increased by 2.8 per cent to 11,051 during the review period.
The number of
primary public Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs) rose to 34 during the review
period with the total number of pupils enrolled in pre- primary schools
increasing to 3,121.4 thousand in 2025 from 2,914.4 thousand in 2024.
Total enrolment in
primary and junior schools rose by 11.2 per cent to 11,935.7 thousand in 2025.
During the review
period, the first full set of enrollment for all the three grades in junior
school under the Competency Based Education (CBE) had 3,701.1 thousand
learners.
As the 8:4:4 system
is getting phased out, there were 3,338.8 thousand learners in secondary school
comprising three classes (form 2, 3, and 4) in 2025.
