Grade 10 rollout exposes cracks in Kenya's education reform

Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development Director Charles Ong'ondo during a past interview. [File, Standard]                                               

It is a hot afternoon, and Luke — not his real name — tends to his two scrawny cows. He plans to sell the only one that gives his family at least a litre of milk a day to raise school fees for his daughter when the second term begins.

This is the reality many parents face as they struggle to keep their children in school. Meanwhile, the government appears overwhelmed by a raft of challenges: inadequate capitation, a persistent shortage of teachers, limited numbers of specialised STEM instructors, and insufficient textbooks, among other constraints.

The National Competency-Based Education and Training (CBET) Policy 2025, still in its infancy, reveals three glaring gaps: resource allocation, teacher preparedness and public understanding. Of these, resource allocation, particularly the availability of teachers and learning materials, is the most urgent.

As recently confirmed by Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development Director Charles Ong’ondo, learners transitioning to Grade 10 this year were ill-prepared for the available pathways: STEM, social sciences, and Arts and Sports Science. Many lacked the guidance to make informed subject choices and have been forced to change direction midway through the course.

School principals, too, are grappling with unexpectedly high enrolments in Grade 10. Most institutions were not equipped for the surge, leaving administrators stretched and learners underserved. Compounding the problem, the Ministry of Education has reportedly supplied only about half the required textbooks for Grade 10 and the senior secondary levels.

We have to get Grade 10 right. Yet its rollout has raised more questions than answers. A flurry of reactive policy adjustments continues to obscure what should have been a clear transition into senior secondary education. Parents are anxious, and learners are navigating an uncertain academic path.

The CBET policy recognises parents as key stakeholders in school governance and curriculum implementation. It is a commendable provision, but one that has yet to be meaningfully implemented.

A 2025 study published in the International Journal of Novel Research and Development, titled An Assessment of Parental Literacy Level on Academic Performance of Secondary School Students in Kenya, recommends that the Ministry of Education actively engage parents through awareness campaigns and training on their roles in supporting learning.

This recommendation remains largely unfulfilled. Education experts have consistently emphasised the central role of parents in successful curriculum reform. Dr Simon Kipkenei, in his paper Redefining Parental Involvement in Competency-Based Curriculum Implementation in Kenya: A Critical Review, argues that the expanded role of parents must be clearly communicated to address the teething challenges of the new system.

Parents must, therefore, be continuously engaged in developments within competency-based education. They are, after all, the primary providers of the financial resources that sustain learning in schools.

Greater parental involvement could help address bottlenecks, particularly within the STEM pathway, where the need for specialised training and equipment has already led to additional financial demands on families.

Learners, meanwhile, appear to have been rushed into Grade 10 without adequate preparation. Results from the 2025 Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA) show that 75 per cent of candidates fell into the “approaching expectation” category.

The challenges facing the STEM pathway illustrate deeper systemic weaknesses. A shortage of trained teachers, coupled with insufficient numbers overall, points to gaps in policy implementation. Many learners entered Grade 10 with weak foundational knowledge, stemming from teacher shortages at the junior secondary level, incomplete syllabuses, and limited exposure to practical science.

Although the Teachers Service Commission has recruited about 100,000 teachers in recent years, Kenya still faces a shortfall of approximately 72,000 junior secondary school teachers. While 20,000 acting teachers have since been confirmed in permanent positions, the gap remains significant.

There is hope that the 2026/2027 national budget will prioritise education and address these resource constraints. Without such intervention, the current challenges risk undermining the entire reform agenda.

Experiences from countries such as Niger, Mali, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia offer a cautionary tale: curriculum reforms implemented without adequate teacher preparation, infrastructure and stakeholder buy-in often result in systemic strain.

If policymakers fail to address these issues promptly, the uptake of the new pathways — however well-intentioned — will suffer. Ultimately, it is the learner who will bear the cost, through diminished educational outcomes and limited opportunities for personal and national development.

Kenya’s education reform holds promise. But without adequate resources, proper planning and genuine stakeholder engagement, that promise may remain unfulfilled — and parents like Luke will continue to shoulder a burden they should not have to carry alone.