Budget cut hits education amid rising numbers

Overall funding in the education sector is expected to shrink, despite the number of schools and colleges growing.

According to the Economic Survey 2025, the expenditure for education is projected to fall from Sh601.5 billion in 2023/24 to Sh594.2 billion in 2024/25, a 1.2 per cent decline.

This comes even as the number of basic learning institutions jumped by 38.3 per cent to 129,463 last year, largely due to the inclusion of junior secondary schools.

Recurrent expenditure, which covers salaries and daily running costs, is expected to decrease by 1.7 per cent to Sh566.1 billion, even as student enrolment grows across nearly all levels.

But development expenditure—money spent on infrastructure, facilities, and equipment—is projected to increase by 9.8 per cent to Sh28.1 billion, offering some reprieve.

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TVET institutions rose by 6.9 per cent to 2,756, supported by new accreditations of vocational training centres. Two new universities — National Intelligence Research University and Tangaza University — were chartered, raising the total to 72.

Student enrolment has surged across the board Pre-primary enrolment rose to 2.91 million in 2024, up from 2.88 million in 2023. Primary and junior school enrolment climbed 3.2 per cent to 10.73 million, Secondary school enrolment increased by 5.2 per cent to 4.32 million, TVET enrolment surged by 10.4 per cent to 709,885 learners.

University enrolment is projected to rise from 579,000 to 629,100 students, the number of KCSE candidates increased 6.9 per cent to 965,172.

Meanwhile, the teaching workforce has seen mixed changes. Public primary school teacher numbers declined by 3.2 per cent to 212,602 in 2024, while secondary school and teacher training college staff rose to 130,818 from 125,563.

Despite growing student numbers, government funding to universities is expected to fall sharply, from Sh30 billion to Sh12.9 billion in 2024/25.  “This drop in university funding is alarming,” said Dr Henry Embeywa, a senior lecturer at Machakos University. “We’re already stretched thin. Slashing support by over half while enrolment is going up is unsustainable.”

The financial aid for students has increased. The Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) disbursed Sh46.9 billion in loans for 2024/25 — a 59.5 per cent increase. Loans under the New Funding Model (NFM) also rose to Sh20.9 billion, up from Sh17.9 billion in 2023/24.