Kenya’s KPEEL and SEEQIP Programmes: What the Latest Push to Close School Learning Gaps Means for Teachers and Learners.
Kenya’s two biggest World Bank-backed basic education programmes are entering a critical phase. A joint government-and-development-partner review has confirmed real progress on classrooms and science labs, but it has also put a number on a problem many teachers already sense in their classrooms: Kenyan learners are struggling with foundational literacy, numeracy and science skills, and the country’s first-ever participation in PISA has now measured just how deep that gap runs.
Here is what was agreed, what the data shows, and what it means for schools going forward.
What Happened
The State Department for Basic Education led a joint implementation support mission bringing together Ministry of Education officials, the World Bank, the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and other partners to review two flagship programmes:
- KPEEL — the Kenya Primary Education Equity in Learning programme
- SEEQIP — the Secondary Education Equity and Quality Improvement Programme
Both are Program-for-Results initiatives, meaning funding is released only when the government hits specific, independently verified targets rather than being disbursed as a lump sum. The mission reviewed progress against those targets, flagged emerging risks, and agreed on steps to speed up delivery.
The PISA 2025 Wake-Up Call
The standout development is Kenya’s first participation in the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which tests the reading, mathematics and science skills of 15-year-olds worldwide. Kenya’s results, published in September 2026, were sobering: only about 16% of Kenyan students reached the basic proficiency benchmark (Level 2) in science, 11% in reading and 9% in mathematics — far below the OECD averages, and almost no Kenyan student reached the advanced reading levels that OECD students reach at meaningfully higher rates.
World Bank Senior Education Specialist Ruth Charo urged officials not to treat this as a verdict on the Competency-Based Curriculum itself, framing PISA instead as a diagnostic baseline. Her point, echoed across the mission, was that the real question isn’t whether CBC is the right reform, but how to strengthen its implementation — particularly at Junior School — so learners actually acquire the competencies the curriculum promises.
That distinction matters for teachers navigating CBC day to day. It’s worth reading alongside Kenya’s own national assessments: the first Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA), sat by over 1.1 million Grade 9 learners in October 2025, found roughly three-quarters of candidates falling into the “Approaching Expectation” band rather than “Meeting” or “Exceeding” it — a domestic result that lines up closely with what PISA later confirmed internationally.
Where the Gaps Are Concentrated
The joint review identified persistent weaknesses in:
- Literacy and numeracy foundations
- Science understanding
- Digital skills
- Problem-solving and reasoning
These gaps are not evenly spread. Stakeholders specifically flagged learners in underserved communities, refugee-hosting counties such as Turkana and Garissa, and learners with special needs as facing the steepest climb, and called for more equitable teacher deployment and targeted support in these areas rather than uniform, one-size-fits-all interventions.
Infrastructure: What’s Actually Being Built
Money attached to results is only useful if the physical infrastructure keeps pace, and this is where the mission had the most concrete numbers to report.
Science Laboratories Under SEEQIP
SEEQIP is financing 1,600 new science laboratories in senior schools, plus 37 laboratories specifically for special needs institutions. As of the latest review:
| Item | Status |
|---|---|
| Total planned senior school science labs | 1,600 |
| Labs currently under construction | 273 |
| Labs scheduled for funding in FY2026/27 | 1,327 |
| Virtual science labs developed for junior schools | 35 (72 more in progress) |
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This matters because Kenya’s senior school pathways under CBC require every school to offer STEM subjects, and many secondary schools — by some estimates, well over half — have historically had no functioning laboratory at all. Where a full laboratory isn’t feasible yet, the government’s Schools Equipment Production Unit has also been rolling out lower-cost science kits (roughly Sh95,000 versus over Sh3 million for a full lab) as a stopgap for schools still waiting their turn.
To speed construction where land is scarce, particularly in dense urban and informal settlement areas, stakeholders proposed allowing vertical construction (multi-storey buildings) and more flexible Bills of Quantities so contractors can adapt designs to local site conditions without breaching procurement accountability rules.
Classrooms Under KPEEL
On the primary side, KPEEL has completed 26,736 Grade 9 classrooms — a direct response to the surge in enrolment created as the pioneer CBC cohort moved from primary into Junior School. The programme also runs results-based school grants (each participating school can receive up to Sh480,000, disbursed against seven verified Disbursement-Linked Indicators) targeting roughly 5,422 primary schools, with deliberate weighting toward informal urban settlements in Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu and refugee-hosting counties.
The Elimu Scholarship Programme: A Rare Good-News Story
Amid the sobering assessment data, the Elimu Scholarship Programme stood out as a genuine success story worth understanding in more detail, since it directly affects secondary school access and retention for vulnerable learners.
Launched in January 2020 by the Ministry of Education with World Bank support and implemented jointly by the Equity Group Foundation and the Jomo Kenyatta Foundation, the programme funds full four-year secondary scholarships — school fees, transport, supplies and a stipend — for needy and vulnerable learners who score well in their primary-level assessments but cannot afford secondary school.
According to the latest review:
- More than 62,000 vulnerable and refugee learners have benefited to date
- Retention rates exceed 99%
- University qualification among beneficiaries rose from 46% in 2023 to 53% in 2025
- Top performers have gone on to internships and placements across Africa, Asia, Europe and North America
For context on the trajectory: independent Equity Group Foundation disclosures put the programme’s beneficiary count at around 52,000 in early 2024, backed by roughly Sh21.5 billion in cumulative support at that point. The 62,000-plus figure now reported is consistent with that growth curve rather than an isolated or inflated claim.
Looking ahead, the State Department plans to enrol an additional 25,000 beneficiaries between 2027 and 2028, with girls expected to make up 53% of the new cohort — a deliberate equity target rather than a projection.
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What This Means for Teachers and School Leaders
If you’re a teacher, head teacher or TSC-registered professional trying to translate this into something practical, three things are worth watching:
- PISA and KJSEA results are converging on the same message. Both point to Junior School as the pressure point where CBC implementation needs the most support — not the design of the curriculum itself. Expect continued emphasis on teacher training, learning materials and formative assessment practice at this level, including through the School-Based Teacher Support System (SBTSS) that TSC has been resourcing.
- Infrastructure funding is genuinely rolling out, but unevenly. With only 273 of 1,600 planned science labs under construction so far, most senior schools waiting on a SEEQIP lab should expect funding in the 2026/27 financial year rather than immediate completion. Schools without labs in the interim may be better served applying for the lower-cost science kit route through NG-CDF support.
- Equity targeting is deliberate, not incidental. Refugee-hosting counties, informal urban settlements and learners with special needs are named priorities in both KPEEL and SEEQIP, and results-based grants are structured to reward schools that demonstrate progress on safety and teacher effectiveness, not just enrolment numbers.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between KPEEL and SEEQIP?
KPEEL covers primary education equity, focusing on classroom construction, results-based school grants and closing regional and gender disparities in the early years. SEEQIP covers secondary education, focusing on science laboratory construction, junior school teaching quality and equitable access to secondary schooling.
Why did Kenya’s PISA 2025 results matter so much?
This was Kenya’s first participation in PISA, giving the country its first internationally comparable baseline on how 15-year-olds perform in reading, mathematics and science. Officials have said the results should be used to refine how CBC is implemented rather than to judge whether the reform itself was the right choice.
Who is eligible for the Elimu Scholarship Programme?
The programme targets learners from financially constrained, vulnerable or refugee-hosting backgrounds who perform well in their primary-level national assessment. Selection criteria and application windows are managed jointly by the Ministry of Education, Equity Group Foundation and Jomo Kenyatta Foundation, and change slightly year to year, so applicants should check current guidance directly from those bodies.
Is CBC being scrapped because of the PISA results?
No. Both the World Bank and Ministry officials involved in the review explicitly framed PISA as a tool to strengthen CBC implementation, not evidence for abandoning the curriculum.
Kenya’s KPEEL and SEEQIP Programmes: What the Latest Push to Close School Learning Gaps Means for Teachers and Learners.
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