Placement hiccups, teacher shortage mar Grade 10 rollout

When more than 1.1 million learners reported to school on Monday for the inaugural Grade 10 intake under the Competency-Based Education system, the expectation was that Kenya’s long-troubled education reform would finally enter a stable phase.

Instead, the transition has laid bare deep structural weaknesses, raising questions about preparedness, equity and whether the pace of reform has outstripped the system’s capacity to absorb it.

Under the senior school rollout, learners are streamed into three pathways—STEM, Social Sciences and Arts and Sports—an approach designed to align education with skills, careers and talent development.

But even as learning began in earnest in some schools, parents across the country described a rollout marked by confusion, financial strain and poor coordination.

Central to the discontent is the online placement system.

Parents in some counties protested placements that sent learners to schools far from home, including day schools located hundreds of kilometres away—an outcome many say ignored basic welfare considerations.

In Kajiado, parent Christopher Murungaru questioned how young learners could reasonably manage such placements.

“How do you expect a day scholar, barely 13 years old, to live alone in a rural town far from home?” he asked.

Similar concerns were echoed by James Mburu, who said some learners had been posted to schools in regions such as West Pokot or Kisii, making attendance practically impossible without additional costs for housing and upkeep.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) has warned that these challenges could undermine the government’s push for 100 per cent transition.

Knut first national vice chairperson Malel Lang’at said many learners had yet to report due to logistical and financial barriers.

He urged the Ministry of Education to allow schools with larger capacities to admit more learners to absorb those stranded by the placement system.

Citing Tenwek High School in Bomet, Lang’at said despite having adequate facilities, the school had been allocated limited slots.

Beyond logistics, rights groups say the failures have opened the door to corruption.

The Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) warned that some parents were being asked to pay money to influence placements, a development it says reflects systemic breakdowns.

“Parents are being exposed to corruption and learners risk losing their slots due to failures in the placement system,” KHRC deputy executive director Cornelius Oduor said.

KHRC also documented cases of schools demanding unauthorised levies, including remedial fees, “teacher motivation” charges and replacement costs for textbooks—expenses not provided for under the Free Day Secondary Education policy.

In some instances, junior school transcripts were allegedly withheld over unpaid fees, raising concerns about violations of the right to education.

Parents have further raised alarm over the rising cost of uniform, laboratory equipment and pathway-specific materials.

Some reported being asked to buy full uniforms costing more than Sh20,000, a burden many families say is unsustainable amid a difficult economy.

Staffing shortages compound the pressure.

The Teachers Service Commission estimates the country requires an additional 35,000 STEM teachers, 14,600 in Social Sciences and 8,778 in Arts and Sports to adequately support senior school learning nationwide.

While the government has released Sh5.64 billion for textbooks, distribution remains incomplete.

Publishers say only about half of the approved books will be delivered by mid-January, with full supply expected by the end of the month.

Yet the picture is not uniformly bleak. Several national schools reported smooth admissions and strong turnout. At Moi Girls High School, Eldoret, principal Juliana Kirui said more than half of the expected Grade 10 cohort had reported by the first day.

Similar reports came from Kapsabet Boys and Chebisas Boys High schools, where administrators cited ministry support and expanded facilities.

Teachers’ union officials in these regions said staff were ready to begin instruction without disruption.

Still, analysts note these successes are largely concentrated in well-resourced institutions, masking deeper inequalities elsewhere.

As the CBE system enters its most complex phase, the Grade 10 transition has become an early stress test—revealing that while policy ambition is high, implementation gaps risk widening disparities unless urgently addressed.