- Kevin Dennis Githunguri argues that Parliament’s counselling motion must now translate into properly funded services.
- A tiered approach could combine universal learner support, targeted interventions and specialist care for complex cases.
- Clear standards on counsellors, confidentiality, referrals and funding will determine whether the reforms work.
The National Assembly’s adoption on August 19 of a motion calling for structured, timetabled guidance and counselling in every public and private primary and secondary school deserves recognition. Nyeri Woman Representative Rahab Mukami put an urgent issue before the country, and the House responded with agreement. Crucially, in her reply, she pledged to amend the Education Act and turn the motion into a Bill. Parliament confirms that the House adopted Mukami’s motion calling for mandatory, structured and timetabled guidance and counselling programmes.
The Hansard shows Members were not asking schools merely to rename what exists. They described an informal, inconsistent and under-resourced system: a teacher assigned counselling alongside a full workload, sometimes without specialised training, a confidential room or reliable referrals. Hon. George Murugara observed that some programmes exist only on paper. Hon. Beatrice Kemei warned that visible, improvised counselling spaces can deepen stigma.
That diagnosis is consistent with evidence. A 2025 study by Shamiri Institute and the Africa Institute for Mental and Brain Health (AfriMeb), involving more than 7,800 students in 27 secondary schools across four counties, found 30 per cent had moderate-to-severe depression symptoms and 25 per cent had moderate-to-severe anxiety symptoms. The underlying research covered data collected between 2021 and 2023.
The scale of need demands more than goodwill, but also more than a specialist-only answer.
Building a tiered counselling system
The most useful implementation framework came from Nyeri Town MP Duncan Mathenge. He argued for a dedicated psychological counsellor, free from teaching duties, to strengthen trust and clinical confidentiality.
He then described a three-level programme: universal preventive guidance for all learners; more intensive support for those at risk; and specialist care, including psychiatrists, for complex cases. This is an architecture for matching the intensity of care to the intensity of need.
At Shamiri, this logic closely aligns with our tiered-care model. Trained young adult Fellows deliver brief, evidence-based group interventions in schools; mental health and clinical social-work professionals train and supervise them and provide individual support to learners with elevated symptoms; psychologists and psychiatrists manage complex or high-risk cases through referral pathways.
This is task-sharing with professional oversight, not substitution. Every learner should reach the right help without making scarce specialists the only doorway into care.
This alignment resolves a false choice. Kenya need not choose between leaving counselling to overburdened teachers and waiting until every school can employ a full clinical team.
Dedicated, professionally qualified school counsellors should anchor assessment, supervision, safeguarding and referral. Trained and supervised non-specialists can extend preventive and low-intensity support. They must never diagnose, manage serious risk or practise beyond their competence.
Trust must be designed into the service. Kemei’s call for private, discreet counselling rooms speaks to why many learners remain silent.
Confidentiality standards, secure records, informed consent and clear safeguarding exceptions are essential. A counsellor viewed as a disciplinarian may struggle to receive honest disclosure.
Learners should help shape services, so language, scheduling and access reduce stigma instead of advertising vulnerability.
Parliament recognised that mandates without money become empty promises. Nyeri Town MP Duncan Mathenge called for suitable counselling spaces and professional remuneration. Other Members urged the Ministry of Education and Teachers Service Commission to recruit qualified personnel and protect them from unrelated duties.
An Education Act amendment can create enforceable minimum standards and the budget entry point Parliament needs. Regulations should specify qualifications, caseloads, supervision and phased staffing.
Schools cannot do it alone
No school can carry this responsibility alone. The costed implementation roadmap should connect the Ministry of Education, Teachers Service Commission, Ministry of Health, counties, curriculum authorities, child-protection agencies and professional bodies.
Every school needs a current referral directory, named contacts at nearby facilities, emergency procedures and follow-up. Parents remain essential partners, but safeguarding a child cannot depend on whether a family recognises distress or can afford private care.
Success should be measured by more than counselling periods on a timetable. Government should track whether learners trust and use the service, whether at-risk students receive appropriate support, whether urgent referrals are completed, and whether wellbeing, attendance and retention improve.
Data should strengthen quality and accountability without exposing children.
The House has supplied political momentum and a workable design. The next task is to turn Mukami’s promised Bill into a costed, evidence-led system built around Mathenge’s tiered approach.
If government acts with urgency, Parliament’s words can become tangible in practice: a trusted route to timely care for every learner, and schools where distress is met early enough for young people to keep learning and imagining a future.
Shamiri means “to thrive”. Shamiri is building infrastructure to make youth mental healthcare scalable, affordable and community-led. Its approach combines culturally adapted interventions, a tiered caregiving model delivered by trained lay providers and digital tools designed to expand access and improve outcomes.
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According to the organisation, since launching in Kenya in 2021, Shamiri has reached more than 250,000 learners in over 400 schools across 11 counties and is building a scalable model for youth mental and counselling healthcare across Africa and beyond.
By Kevin Dennis Githunguri, Director of Government Relations, Shamiri
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