The Education Ministry is facing a looming crisis as the country prepares to roll out Grade 10 under the Competency-Based Education (CBE) system in the next five months.
This comes after a newly released report revealed that only 21 per cent of teachers in public junior secondary schools have been trained to deliver Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) subjects, raising red flags over the preparedness of both teachers and schools.
The State Education Report, developed by Zizi Afrique Foundation and Usawa Agenda, also revealed that 35 per cent of schools run without a single STEM teacher.
The report has highlighted critical gaps in teacher preparedness, infrastructure, and digital literacy as the country transitions to senior secondary education. Grade 10 is expected to begin in January 2026.
While the report acknowledged that significant strides are being made by the Ministry — including the Teachers Service Commission hiring new teachers with a focus on STEM in January 2025 — the gap remains substantial, placing the future of Grade 10 learners in jeopardy.
Speaking at the report launch on Thursday, July 17, Dr John Mugo, CEO of Zizi Afrique Foundation, noted that much needs to be done in the short time remaining.
“In terms of infrastructure, we have basic Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) needs, and emerging needs arising from the new learning areas under the CBE curriculum that necessitate laboratories, technology access, and digital literacy for both our learners and teachers,” Mugo said.
The CBE model introduced digital literacy and coding as core elements of the curriculum. However, the report shows that only 48 per cent of learners in public junior schools have access to laboratory facilities, with many schools lacking the basic infrastructure needed to support STEM learning in Grade 10.
Despite TSC’s move to hire more teachers in January, there is still a shortfall of 100,000 teachers across all learning institutions, the report revealed.
The report also revealed other loopholes in CBE, including low literacy levels, with findings indicating that only 4 in 10 Grade 4 learners could read and comprehend a Grade 3-level English story. It also highlighted a lack of infrastructure, with more than twice the recommended number of learners sharing a single toilet.
The revelation adds to a recent finding which showed that Grade 9 students awaiting transition to Grade 10 had snubbed nearly half of the available schools.
In a statement on Thursday, July 17, Basic Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok said the placement of the 1.2 million Grade 9 learners was concluded in May, with nearly 5,000 out of the 9,750 senior schools not being selected.
