Kenya's economic future is being forged not in factories, but in classrooms. President William Ruto's government is pivoting the entire education system to serve its ambitious Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA), betting that a skilled workforce is the ultimate driver of national prosperity.

This strategic shift aims to directly answer the pressing question for every Kenyan: how does this create jobs and secure a better future? The administration's answer lies in aligning learning with the five core pillars of BETA: Agriculture, MSMEs, Housing, Healthcare, and the Digital Superhighway. The goal is to produce graduates with practical competencies, ready to contribute from day one.

From Theory to Tractor

The government's focus is swinging sharply towards Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). President Ruto has noted that enrolment in these institutions has more than doubled, leaping from 341,000 in 2022 to 718,000 in 2025. This surge is intentional, designed to feed sectors like housing and agriculture with qualified artisans, technicians, and agricultural experts.

To bolster this, the government is leveraging international partnerships and targeted funding. Initiatives like the Skills Initiative for Africa grant, providing €359,640 (approx. KES 49 million), and collaborations with the African Development Fund are aimed at equipping TVETs and providing scholarships for unemployed youth in high-demand trades. This directly supports the BETA objective of creating jobs and reducing the cost of living by building local capacity.

The CBC Conundrum

At the heart of this reform is the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), which prioritizes skills over memorization. The administration sees CBC as the foundational stage for producing a future-ready workforce. To support its rollout, President Ruto stated that 23,000 new classrooms have been delivered and 76,000 teachers hired over the last few years, with thousands more expected.

However, the transition is not without serious challenges. Critics and educators point to significant hurdles that could undermine the entire vision. These include:

• Inadequate Resources: Many schools, particularly in rural areas, lack the necessary classrooms, laboratories, and digital tools to effectively implement CBC.
• Teacher Preparedness: Studies indicate that many teachers feel ill-prepared and require more robust training to shift from theory-based to competency-based teaching methods.
• Policy Whiplash: Recent shifts in policy, such as conflicting directives on the structure of Junior Schools, have created confusion and uncertainty among parents and educators, threatening to destabilize the reforms.
• Skills Mismatch: A recent paper from the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) warned of a significant misalignment between the skills being developed and those required to achieve BETA's goals, particularly in construction, engineering, and IT.

The Price of Progress

Financing this grand educational overhaul is a monumental task. The President has emphasized his commitment by increasing the national education budget significantly. A new student-centered funding model for higher education has been introduced, aiming to channel scholarships and loans based on need and merit, from which nearly 500,000 students have reportedly benefited.

Despite these investments, public universities remain burdened by historical debts, and delays in capitation payments to schools persist. For the average Kenyan household, concerns remain about the hidden costs of CBC and whether the promised accessibility of higher education will translate into reality amid broader economic pressures.

Ultimately, the success of this educational gamble rests on disciplined implementation and closing the gap between ambitious policy and the realities on the ground. As the nation watches, the question remains whether these reforms will cultivate a generation of innovators who can build a new economy, or if the dream will be stalled by the persistent challenges of funding and execution.