While teacher shortages dominate headlines, a deeper crisis quietly threatens the success of Kenya’s Competency-Based Education (CBE) rollout: inadequate infrastructure in Junior Schools. Without enough classrooms, laboratories, and specialised learning spaces, even a fully staffed school system would struggle to deliver CBE as envisioned.
President William Ruto recently stated that Members of Parliament have enough NG-CDF funds—about Sh180 million per constituency—to construct classrooms. He noted that through NG-CDF, 8,000 classrooms have been built in three years, with the national government adding 17,000 more.
However, these numbers fail to match the rapid expansion of the CBE system. Many schools across the country, especially in rural and semi-arid regions, continue to grapple with severe space shortages. Overcrowded classrooms, makeshift learning spaces and shared facilities are commonplace.
Junior School requires specialised rooms for STEM subjects, ICT labs, art studios and pre-vocational training spaces. Yet many schools lack even basic classroom blocks, forcing teachers to improvise. Learners in Grades 7, 8 and 9 often share spaces originally designed for lower primary or secondary school learners.
The infrastructure deficit undermines several core goals of CBE. Competency-Based Learning depends heavily on practical lessons, hands-on assessments and group activities. These require space—something many schools simply do not have.
The shortage is exacerbated by the massive teacher deficit—72,000 educators are still needed for Junior School alone. Even with the planned recruitment of 24,000 interns by January 2026, the gap remains huge. This means classrooms, where available, are stretched beyond capacity.
Education experts warn that the government’s approach has been reactive rather than anticipatory. While both NG-CDF and the national government have made progress, the scale of Junior School expansion was predictable years ago. Critics argue that infrastructure planning should have preceded the rollout.
Some MPs claim NG-CDF allocations are insufficient, citing inflation, rising construction costs and competing constituency needs. Others argue that some counties require targeted national intervention due to geographic disadvantages.
The lack of sufficient infrastructure leads to other challenges: reduced learning hours, compromised quality of instruction, teacher burnout and diminished learner experience. Classrooms designed for 30 learners now host 60 or more, making personalised competency assessment nearly impossible.
Until Kenya fully aligns its infrastructure strategy with the demands of CBE, schools will continue to face bottlenecks. The government’s commitment to classroom development is commendable, but scaling must accelerate urgently.
