In the recently released 2025 UNESCO Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report and the African Centre for School Leadership Spotlight Report, Kenya has emerged as a powerful example for educational advancement in Africa.
According to the report, Kenya stands among the top four African nations where over 30% of children complete primary school and achieve the minimum learning proficiency, despite academic disparity in African Continent whereby only 1 in 10 children reach this crucial milestone.
The report, produced in collaboration with Kenya’s Ministry of Education and the Kenya Education Management Institute (KEMI), highlights the country’s steady progress, including a primary completion rate that climbed to 87% in 2023. Alongside Gabon, Morocco, and Algeria, Kenya is leading the way in a region where foundational learning remains a pressing challenge.
The spotlight report further identified three transformative practices in Kenya that other African nations can adopt to achieve education milestones;
Cluster-Based Teacher Collaboration: Through the Cluster-Based Teacher Collaboration for Strengthening Foundational Mathematics programme, teachers come together to share context-relevant teaching methods and create low-cost learning aids. This initiative strengthens both curriculum delivery and teacher preparedness.
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National Learning Assessment System: Kenya is one of the few African countries—only 20%—with a functional national learning assessment framework. The Assessment for Minimum Proficiency Level (AMPL) helps align national planning with global standards and turns data into actionable policy reforms.
Learner-Centered Pedagogy: The USAID-supported Tusome programme has revolutionized classroom instruction by promoting interactive, group-based learning. Coupled with increased textbook provision and cascaded teacher training, the initiative has significantly boosted reading levels.
School Leadership: A Pillar of Progress
The report also underscores the critical role of school leadership in improving learning outcomes. Kenya is the only one of the five spotlight countries with a formal school leader competency framework, and principals reportedly spend 35% of their time on instructional leadership—nearly three times more than their counterparts in other African nations.
Despite this, challenges remain. Only 21% of principals reported receiving training that covered pedagogical support, and most training occurs after appointment rather than before. To address this, Kenya is set to establish the Kenya School of Teacher and Education Management and the Kenya Teachers Training College to professionalize and coordinate leadership development.
Areas for Improvement
While Kenya’s progress is commendable, the report points to ongoing hurdles. The student-to-textbook ratio remains high at 2.4:1, compared to nearly 1:1 in Côte d’Ivoire and Morocco. Additionally, school leaders need more systematic pre-appointment training, clearer mandates for local education officers, and expanded professional development focused on foundational learning.
To sustain and accelerate progress, the report recommends six priority actions that should be adapted by other African countries to succeed in the education sector.
Support school leaders in implementing the competency-based curriculum, strengthen the capacity of sub-county education and curriculum support officers, expand cluster-based teacher professional development, empower school leaders to guide teacher collaboration, engage parents and communities in learning, and improve data use for teaching and policy decisions.
Kenya’s journey offers a blueprint for educational transformation in Africa—proving that with the right policies, partnerships, and leadership, significant learning gains are within reach.
By Juma Ndigo
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