NAIROBI, Kenya - The Kenyan government's commitment to education, reflected in the sector receiving the largest share of the national budget, is being severely undermined by a ballooning wage bill that consumes the majority of the allocated funds. This financial strain is crippling essential services, including the free primary and secondary education programmes, and hindering efforts to improve the quality of learning for millions of students, an investigation by Streamline News reveals.

For the 2025/2026 fiscal year, the education sector was allocated a record Ksh 702.7 billion, approximately 28% of the country's total budget. However, a staggering Ksh 387.2 billion—more than 55% of this total—is designated for the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), primarily for personnel emoluments. This allocation to the TSC marks a significant increase from the Ksh 358.2 billion it received in the 2024/25 budget and continues an upward trend from previous years, highlighting the escalating pressure of teacher remuneration on public finances. The teaching service now constitutes the largest portion of the projected Ksh 1.25 trillion public sector wage bill for 2025.

Squeezing Non-Salary Expenditure

This heavy focus on salaries has created a critical funding crisis for other vital areas of the education system. In February 2025, the Ministry of Education reported a Ksh 27 billion funding shortfall that threatened to delay teacher salaries and disrupt school operations. The Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE) programme was reported to be underfunded by Ksh 21.85 billion, leaving nearly a million students without adequate support.

Schools across the country are grappling with the consequences. Headteachers report receiving significantly less capitation funding than expected and experiencing severe delays in disbursements. For the first term of 2025, for instance, only Ksh 14 billion was released out of an anticipated Ksh 28 billion, contributing to a five-year capitation deficit of Ksh 64 billion and forcing many schools into debt to sustain daily operations. This financial instability directly impacts the ability of schools to purchase teaching materials, pay support staff, and maintain facilities, ultimately compromising the quality of education.

A Paradox of Shortages and Unemployment

Despite the enormous wage bill, the sector is paradoxically plagued by both teacher shortages in critical areas and mass unemployment among trained educators. According to Collins Oyuu, the Secretary-General of the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), over 350,000 trained teachers remain jobless. At the same time, schools in rural and arid and semi-arid lands (ASAL) regions face chronic understaffing. Teacher unions have repeatedly urged the TSC to address this disparity by prioritizing staffing in underserved areas rather than concentrating teachers in already overstaffed urban schools.

The situation is compounded by persistent demands from teacher and lecturer unions for improved pay and working conditions. The university system was recently paralysed by a seven-week lecturers' strike over pay disputes. Both KNUT and the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) are pushing for salary increments of between 50 and 100 percent in the next Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) for 2025-2029, citing the rising cost of living and erosion of their members' purchasing power. Many teachers report severe financial distress due to new statutory deductions, including the 2.75% Social Health Authority levy and the 1.5% housing levy, which have significantly reduced their take-home pay.

An Unsustainable Path

Government officials have acknowledged that the current trajectory is unsustainable. National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi stated in early 2025 that the total public sector wage bill had risen to Ksh 80 billion per month, or Ksh 960 billion annually, a level he warned crowds out essential development spending. The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) has also highlighted the challenge, noting that a high wage bill limits the government's capacity to invest in critical priorities like infrastructure and healthcare, in addition to education.

In August 2023, the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (PWPER) submitted a report with recommendations to address these challenges, including a review of the capitation formula and the introduction of a minimum essential funding package to protect schools with low enrolment. However, more than a year later, many of these proposed reforms, which require legislative changes, have yet to be implemented, leaving the sector in a state of uncertainty.

As Kenya allocates a larger portion of its budget to education than many regional peers, the dominance of the wage bill presents a formidable challenge. Balancing the legitimate demands of a vast teaching workforce with the urgent need to fund all other components of a functioning, high-quality education system remains one of the most critical policy dilemmas facing the nation.