Education is not an ethnic trophy stop politicising schools

Students during Grade 10 admission at Kisumu Day and Boarding High School, on January 12, 2026. [Michael Mute, Standard]

The belief that national schools should be the exclusive preserve of the communities in which they are located betrays a provincial mindset. It reflects a narrow parochialism, often held by those who have not themselves benefitted from a truly national system of education. This outlook helps to explain Kenya’s ethnically polarised and perpetually fractious politics, in which appeals to “my people” routinely supplant issue-based debate and policy-driven choice.