Uncertain as schools confront a low enrollment crisis

Nearly 30 per cent of public secondary schools have fewer than 150 learners, exposing a deeper crisis of poverty, school dropouts, demographic change and flawed planning.

In Kitui County, County Director of Education Khalif Hassan Isaack said some schools have already become casualties. He confirmed the closure of Munyange Secondary School after learner numbers dwindled, with its principal and teachers withdrawn.

Mbusyani Secondary School in Kitui Central was also left without students and faced a similar fate.

“We have literally closed Munyange Secondary School and removed the principal and teachers and sent them to other schools,” Isaack said.

He warned that several schools facing the problem will also be next in line for closure.

“There are many schools in Kitui that are at risk of being shut down because of poor enrollment,” he said.

In the county’s Katulani area, Manooni and Soma primary schools have also been closed because of inadequate learner numbers.

He said the sight of empty classrooms in Kitui is a reflection of households struggling with drought and poverty.

“Many families in the region depend on farming and livestock, leaving school attendance vulnerable whenever harvests fail or household incomes collapse. Parents may struggle to provide uniforms, meals, transport, and other basic requirements,” he said.

Isaack believes schools need to respond directly to these pressures; among his proposals is the introduction of feeding programmes for day scholars.

“I request school administrations, Boards of Management, parents and teachers in our schools to provide meals for day scholars, even if once a day, to stem absenteeism and help retain learners in school,” he said.

His school is one of thousands caught in an increasingly visible enrolment crisis that is forcing Kenya to confront an uncomfortable question about what happens to schools when the children they were built to serve stop coming.

William Sugut, head of the Directorate of Secondary Education, acknowledged the scale of the challenge, saying nearly 28 per cent have fewer than 150 learners.

“We have a total of 9,605 public secondary schools, and 2,700 of them have an enrolment of less than 150 learners.”

He added that more than 330 secondary schools recorded no Grade 10 admissions during recent placement cycles.

The crisis is particularly visible in rural and semi-arid communities, where poverty, drought, long distances, population movements, and school dropouts are steadily shrinking the number of learners.

The roll-out of the Competency-Based Education system has further exposed the imbalance.

In Vihiga County, for example, stakeholders say Category 1, 2, and 3 senior schools have absorbed a large share of Grade 10 learners, leaving Category 4 schools struggling to survive.

Schools like Friends School Kigama have been struggling to survive for the last five years, with enrollment standing at below 130 learners in all three classes.

The school has produced many notable alumni in the years since its inception in 1956.

Parents, alumni, and local leaders have expressed concern over the possible shutdown.

Sisco Mbindi, a local politician, argued that closing the school would disproportionately affect vulnerable students who rely on it for affordable secondary education.

“A school with history, facilities, teachers and a community behind it should not simply be allowed to disappear because enrollment has fallen,” he said.

School principal Wilson Ambura argues that it makes little sense to have schools with full infrastructure and teachers standing empty while neighbouring institutions are overcrowded.

“We call upon stakeholders, including parents, politicians, government, and sponsor church, to come in, take responsibility, and rescue our schools before they go down,’ he said.

The empty classrooms, he warned, expose the financial consequences of declining enrollment because government capitation is largely tied to the number of learners in a school.

“How do you run a school with such a small population of learners. The school fees for an entire year are Sh40,535. You have to pay all bills, including staff and running costs,” he said.

Some schools therefore receive funding that is insufficient to meet basic operational costs, even as taxpayers’ money remains tied up in classrooms, laboratories and other facilities.

Other schools in the same constituency of Sabatia, Inyali Primary School enrolled only 11 Grade One pupils. Chugi Primary admitted 13, while Kigama Primary enrolled 35.

Busali Union secondary school in the last four years has been registering candidates below 100 in the last four years, with 2024 having 95 candidates, while in 2025, the school submitted 84 candidates.

Robert Anami, a resident in the area, blamed this on the interference in the running of the institutions by the local community and sponsor churches.

“Most of the schools used to perform well, boosting learner enrolment, but when the community began interfering in who was to head the school, the institutions began nose-diving academically and in students’ population,” he said.

In 2019, Arabia Girls Secondary School in Mandera had only 55 students despite having a capacity of 180. The school had been allocated 50 Grade 10 learners, yet none reported.

Other education stakeholders are pointing to a combination of factors that have converged to produce the current crisis, including early pregnancies, child labour, substance abuse, absenteeism, migration, declining child populations, inadequate facilities, and changes in learner placement.

Education expert Emmanuel Manyasa of Usawa Agenda says the rapid establishment of small community schools has created an inefficient network of institutions.

“In some small areas, you find many public schools, each with only a few learners but all requiring the same number of teachers,” he said.

Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers chairman Omboko Milemba says the situation amounts to an inefficient use of infrastructure.

“Our senior secondary schools, especially those classified as C4, are facing a serious challenge because C1, C2 and C3 schools admitted almost all Grade 10 students, leaving C4 schools struggling to survive,” he said.

Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba said the Ministry will audit transition numbers before determining which schools should be merged, to concentrate resources in institutions capable of serving larger numbers.

“What it means for us as a ministry is to sit down and decide on whether we should continue holding these schools as schools, or whether we should invest more in the schools that students require so that they can have all the facilities they need,” Ogamba said.

National Parents Association chairman Silas Obuhatsa warned that in some parts of the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands, distances between homes and schools are so extreme that even young children are forced to board.

“Closing a school may therefore make economic sense on paper while making education less accessible in practice. There is also the question of why children are dropping out before reaching senior school,” he said.

He noted that early pregnancies, child labour, substance abuse, household poverty and absenteeism continue to push learners out of education.

“In such cases, merging schools does not address the root problem. It merely rearranges the remaining learners,” he added.