The Kenya Private Schools Association (KPSA) was founded in 1994 by visionary proprietors who understood that private education needed a collective voice to engage government, protect standards and safeguard the interests of learners, teachers, and investors. From its humble beginnings among well-established private schools in Nairobi and a few other regions, KPSA has grown into a national body with representation in all 47 county branches. On paper, this footprint should make KPSA an influential stakeholder in education policy, reforms, and implementation. Its stated mission to be the natural representative body and voice of private education in Kenya is noble and necessary. Yet, in practice, KPSA has become largely moribund, reactive and ineffective, failing to live up to its mandate at a time when private education is under unprecedented pressure.
One of the clearest indicators of KPSA’s failure is its chronic tendency to react too late. Major education policies are formulated, announced and implemented by the Ministry of Education, and only after private school owners begin to feel the negative effects does KPSA issue weak statements or convene belated meetings. By then, the damage is already done. Effective representation requires anticipation, structured engagement and the ability to influence policy before it is rolled out. KPSA has instead settled into a culture of complaint rather than advocacy, lamentation rather than negotiation. This reactive posture has steadily eroded confidence among private school owners and teachers, many of whom now question the association’s relevance.
The ongoing national teacher retooling under the Competency-Based Education framework is a stark example. Using World Bank funding, the government has facilitated large-scale retooling of TSC-employed teachers at no personal cost to them. Private school teachers, who teach the same Kenyan children and are expected to implement the same curriculum, have been forced to pay from their own pockets. This blatant inequity should have been challenged at the policy level long before retooling commenced. KPSA ought to have demanded inclusion of private school teachers in publicly funded retooling on the basis that education is a public good, regardless of whether it is delivered in public or private institutions. Its silence, followed by muted protests after the fact, exposes an association that neither understands policy cycles nor possesses the technical capacity to engage effectively with government and development partners.
The exclusion of private schools from the Ministry of Education portal during senior school selection further illustrates this institutional weakness. Senior school is not a minor transition; it defines pathways, careers and life chances for learners. Leaving private schools out of the portal sends a clear message that they are peripheral, despite educating a significant proportion of Kenyan learners. Even more troubling is the fact that private schools will not be involved in senior school placement at all. This is a structural exclusion that undermines parental choice, competition, and diversity in education provision. KPSA’s inability to forestall or reverse this decision demonstrates that it lacks both influence and strategic engagement at the highest policy levels.
Textbook distribution is another area where KPSA has failed to uphold principles of fairness and equity. Government-distributed textbooks are funded by public resources, including taxes paid by parents whose children attend private schools. These books are meant to support Kenyan learners, not institutions. Discriminating against private schools in textbook distribution punishes children for their parents’ school choice and creates an uneven playing field. A robust association would frame this as a child rights and equity issue, backed by data and legal argument. KPSA, however, has allowed this discrimination to persist with little more than rhetorical protest.
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At the heart of KPSA’s decline lies a deeper structural problem: poor leadership and governance. The National Executive Council is largely composed of school proprietors and directors elected through campaigns that reward popularity, regional blocs, or financial muscle rather than competence. Some of these individuals are semi-literate in policy, law, economics, and governance, yet they are expected to negotiate with seasoned technocrats in government and international agencies. Predictably, they are outmatched. Worse still, many NEC members have direct vested interests, making it difficult for them to take principled positions that may personally or commercially inconvenience them. An association led this way cannot rise above parochial concerns to defend the broader interests of private education.
Reviving KPSA requires a radical shift from this model. The National Executive Council must be professionalized. Instead of elective positions filled by campaigning proprietors, KPSA should hire experts and professionals in education policy, law, economics, public relations, and strategic advocacy. These professionals should be accountable to clear performance indicators, not personal networks. A professional NEC would engage the government continuously, analyse policy proposals early, prepare position papers, and negotiate from a position of knowledge and authority. Crucially, professionals without ownership stakes in schools would have fewer conflicts of interest and greater freedom to take firm, principled positions.
The appointment of a CEO from the banking sector further reflects KPSA’s confusion about its own identity. While managerial skills are essential, education is a highly specialised sector with its own language, politics, regulations, and philosophies. A CEO who “understands nothing to do with education” cannot credibly represent private schools in complex curriculum reforms, teacher development frameworks, or learner placement systems. Leadership at the helm must combine managerial competence with deep understanding of education systems and policy processes.
If KPSA is to reclaim its role as the voice of private education, it must abandon tokenism, patronage, and amateurism. Private schools are not asking for privilege; they are demanding fairness, inclusion, and respect. These cannot be secured through reactive statements and poorly informed leadership. They require professional advocacy, strategic foresight and courageous governance. Without this transformation, KPSA will remain a shadow of its founding vision, watching from the sidelines as decisions that shape the future of Kenyan education are made without it.
By Ashford Kimani
Ashford teaches English and Literature in Gatundu North Sub-county and serves as Dean of Studies.
