Kenya Rules Out Free Education for All Students Due to Budget Crisis
Nairobi, 5 February 2026
Treasury Secretary John Mbadi has definitively rejected calls for free education across Kenya, revealing the staggering financial reality behind the demand. With 15.65 million students across all levels, the government already spends £121 billion annually on education subsidies—yet this covers only partial costs. Secondary boarding schools cost £75,000 per child yearly, while the government provides just £22,000. Even if all students attended day schools and received full government funding, Mbadi warns the education budget would collapse entirely, forcing cuts elsewhere.
The Mathematics of Educational Impossibility
Speaking during an interview on Ramogi TV on Tuesday, 3 February 2026, Mbadi laid bare the stark arithmetic that makes universal free education unachievable under current fiscal constraints [1]. The Treasury Secretary outlined that Kenya’s education system currently serves approximately 11 million learners in primary school, 4 million in secondary school, and about 650,000 students in universities [1]. For secondary education alone, the government allocates Ksh22,000 per student, which when multiplied by the 4 million students amounts to 88.000 billion = Ksh88 billion [1]. Primary school funding presents an equally daunting challenge, with each pupil receiving Ksh3,000 from the government as a fee subsidy, totalling 33.000 billion = Ksh33 billion for all 11 million learners [1].
Budget Realities Exceed Available Resources
The combined cost of these subsidies—121.000 billion = Ksh121 billion—already surpasses the education budget beyond recommended limits, according to Mbadi’s calculations [1]. The Treasury Secretary emphasised that even consolidating all existing bursary programmes would prove insufficient to bridge the funding gap [1]. “If you confirm these amounts with our budget, you will realise it will not be enough. I saw people saying that we should consolidate all the bursary but I once had such a proposal, but it is still not viable,” Mbadi stated during the television interview [1]. This financial reality becomes even more pronounced when examining the true cost of secondary education, where boarding schools cost nearly Ksh75,000 per child annually, whilst day schools cost around Ksh35,000 [1].
Government Subsidies Fall Short of Full Coverage
The current subsidy structure reveals the substantial gap between government support and actual educational costs. For boarding students, the government provides Ksh22,000 whilst parents must cover the remaining Ksh53,000 to meet the full Ksh75,000 annual cost [1]. Day scholars receive Ksh12,000 in government support, leaving families to fund the remaining Ksh23,000 of the Ksh35,000 total [1]. Mbadi argued that even if all secondary school students were converted to day schools and the government attempted to fully clear their fees, the education budget would remain unsustainable [1]. “If all secondary school children were in day schools and we decided to clear their fees in totality, it would still not be sustainable for our education budget,” he revealed [1].
Historical Context and Future Implications
The Treasury Secretary cautioned Kenyans against demanding free education without understanding its profound financial implications, noting that even former President Mwai Kibaki’s celebrated free education policy was limited exclusively to primary schools [1]. “Even Mwai Kibaki only gave free primary education, but not for all children. If we want to finance free education in Kenya, we have to free up money from other areas in the budget,” Mbadi argued [1]. His remarks on 3 February 2026 come amid intensifying public pressure on the government to increase education funding as the cost of living and school fees continue to rise across Kenya [1]. The announcement particularly affects vulnerable communities, including refugees who rely heavily on education support programmes, as it signals the government’s current inability to expand social services despite growing demand [GPT].