From health to education: Why Ruto's government is at war with its children

What does the government have against its children?

Although the country's dreams and future rests on the supple shoulders of about 1.2 million children being born annually, a deep look at the circumstances children are being born into and brought up paints a grim picture of a country whose tomorrow is doomed unless. 

Reports of the death of 136 newly born babies in Kiambu County in about two months owing to doctors strike illustrates the systemic problems afflicting the country.

Such reports, garnished with tales of horror from mothers detained in hospitals for failing to pay medical fees owing to the failure by Social Health Authority to caution the most vulnerable in society further deepens the woes of a baby who is being born in Kenya today.

Other deeper problems plague mothers and newly born infants. Since January this year, Kenya faced severe shortage of Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) and polio vaccines following the delay by the government to settle Sh900 million, part of a vaccine acquisition agreement with UNICEF and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

The challenges of lack of vaccines and detention of mothers have been compounded with the Infant and Child mortality rate.

Statistics from Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022 indicate that during 5 years before the survey, the neonatal mortality rate was 21 deaths per 1,000 live births, the infant mortality rate was 32 deaths per 1,000 live births, and the under-5 mortality rate was 41 deaths per 1,000 live births.

“The under-5 mortality rate does not differ by place of residence (41 deaths per 1,000 live births in both rural and urban areas) for the 5-year period before the survey. Childhood mortality generally declines with increasing mother’s education for the 10-year period before the survey,” the data revealed.

By county, under-5 mortality ranges from 15 deaths per 1,000 live births in Marsabit to 73 deaths per 1,000 live births in Migori for the 10-year period before the survey.

Things are not better for the school going children who are unsure of where the ever evolving Curriculum Based Education will lead them to.

The transition from one stage since the new education system started in 2017 has been dogged with controversies further compounded by the training needs and gaps among the teachers.

Currently, the fate of over 122,000 learners who sat for their Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) in Grade 6 is not known after their results were not used for placement, a move that may deal a major blow to the government’s 100 per cent transition.

At the same time, failure by over 1.2 million learners to select 5,000 out of 9750 secondary schools when they were expected to proceed to Grade 10 complicates the arithmetic as this may see the Ministry of Education force pupils to schools which are not of their choice.

In July this year, Basic Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok announced that failure by learners to select the schools was a concern to the government as this posed logistical and planning challenges for the ministry and school administrators.

“We have 9,750 secondary schools around the country. And from the selection results, we have seen clearly that more than 5,000 schools didn’t get any learner selection. This is because some learners do not prefer them,” Bitok said.

Away from Primary education, a 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey conducted by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) provides a glimpse of the danger awaiting the school going children as it shows a massive number of the school population.

The data indicates that while eighty-six per cent of children within the official primary school age range (6-13) are attending primary school, about half of the students within the official secondary-school age range (14-17) are attending secondary school.

“Over time, primary school attendance rates have remained high, ranging from 79% in 2003 and 2008 to 86% in 2014 and 2022. Secondary school attendance rates have increased dramatically in that time, from 13% in 2003 to 49% in 2022,” the report read in part.

According to the report, the total number of pupils enrolled in pre-primary schools increased to 2.914 million in 2024 from 2.885 million in 2023, with enrollment of boys recording a higher increase of 1.5 per cent compared to an increase of 0.5 per cent for girls during the period under review.

“Total enrolment in primary and junior schools grew by 3.2 per cent to 10.733 million in 2024. Enrolment in junior school almost doubled from 1.287 million in 2023, on account of the first cohort of grade 8 learners who transitioned from grade 7,” the report read.

This according to education analysts indicates that the number of children seeking education continues to surge while the government seems unprepared to invest in the infrastructure and finances to support the education.

“The government seems to be caught unawares by the surging numbers of children enrolling in education and this may shatter their dreams of completing their education,” John Kamama, education specialist added.

The KNBS data corresponds with Kamama’s argument as it indicates that the university enrolment from 2021/22 to 2024/25 academic year increased by 9.0 per cent to 631.3 thousand in 2024/25.

The number of students enrolled for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in public universities grew by 8.4 per cent to 522.9 thousand and accounted for 82.8 per cent of all student enrollment in universities in 2024/25.

“Student enrollment in public universities increased from 6.950 million in 2023/24 to 14.064 million in 2024/25. Enrollment in private universities rose by 12.4 per cent to 1.08 million in 2024/25. The total enrollment for the Open University of Kenya increased from 1,812 to 3,106 in the same period,” the report read.

The students have grapple with the controversial funding model, prolonged stay in the learning institutions joined the labor market as skilled while those who do not make it join the market as unskilled labor. Currently there is no learning in all the 41 public universities because the 15,383. The universities which are chocking in debt are collectively owed Sh85 billion.   

According to the Federation of Kenyan Employers (FKE) report, although the overall unemployment in Kenya is at 12.7 percent, Youth (15 – 34 year olds), who form 35 percent of the Kenyan population, have the highest unemployment rate of 67 percent.

The situation gets worse every year because an over one million young people enter into the labour market annually without any skills, some having either dropped out of school or completed school and not enrolled in any college.

The Economic Survey 2025 indicate that there was a slowdown in the number of new jobs created in the informal sector from 720,000 in 2023 to 703,000 jobs in 2024

 “The total new jobs generated in the economy were 782000 in 2024, of which 786, 000 were created in the modern sector reflecting a growth of 2.4 per cent. The total number of self-employed and unpaid family workers in the modern sector was estimated to have increased from 172,400 in 2023 to 175,500 in 2024,” the report read.

The desperation caused by the shrinking jobs has driven hordes of graduates and school leavers into the hands of crooked agents and traffickers. 

  In one of his many attempts to address this, President William Ruto announced partnership with the World Bank, and rolled out the Sh5 billion National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement (NYOTA) Project, which will support 100,000 youth. Seventy beneficiaries identified from each of the country’s 1,450 wards will get KSh50,000 grant to kick start their entrepreneurial journey.

 According to Ruto, the Nyota Project, alongside others like affordable housing, labour mobility, and digital jobs, is creating thousands of opportunities and empowering young Kenyans to drive innovation, enterprise, and sustainable development.

But despite the government's commitment to securing jobs for the youths, some of the applicants who applied for jobs through the government-approved agencies are unhappy with the stringent requirements.

An applicant requires a national identity card which expires in ten years to be renewed at a cost of Sh1000, certificate of good conduct at Sh1050, Credit Reference Bureau at Sh2,200, Higher Education Loans Board Clearance Certificate and Kenya Revenue Authority tax compliance Certificate.