Overcrowded Classrooms, Overloaded Students

In many Kenyan public schools, resilience has quietly become a requirement. Students share textbooks, sit in overcrowded classrooms, and navigate disruptions that are as frequent as they are unpredictable. Teachers encourage perseverance, parents urge grit, and exam results are seen as proof of effort. But when resilience becomes the default expectation, fairness is often overlooked.

Merit vs. Preparation: The Unequal Starting Line

Kenya’s education system celebrates merit in exams and school placements. Yet the reality is that preparation is unevenly distributed. A student in a well-resourced private school may benefit from smaller classes, consistent teachers, and ample study materials. Meanwhile, many public-school students adapt to a system that was never designed for equity.

The result is a system that rewards endurance more than ability, teaching students to navigate inequality rather than challenging it.

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Curriculum Reforms Outpacing Reality

Over the past decade, Kenya has introduced ambitious reforms, from the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) to revised secondary school placements. Policies promise innovation but classrooms struggle to keep pace. Teachers improvise, parents compensate while students cope.

Reform that moves faster than classrooms can adapt risks placing the burden of system failures on the students themselves.

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The Human Cost of “Resilience”

When fairness is missing, students pay the emotional price. Anxiety, stress, and burnout have become normalized. Struggle is internalized as personal failure, while structural gaps remain invisible. Students learn to endure, not to demand support.

Resilience alone cannot substitute for an equitable education system.

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Public Schools Carry the Nation

Kenya’s public schools educate the majority of students, often under-resourced but full of dedication. They shoulder the country’s hope for social mobility, yet receive inconsistent investment. Teachers are stretched, classrooms overcrowded, and materials scarce. These schools demonstrate both the promise and the fragility of the education system.

Towards Fairness, Not Just Perseverance

True fairness would require equitable resources, consistent teacher support, and policies that align with classroom realities. Students should not need extraordinary resilience to access opportunities promised by the system. Resilience is valuable but it should never be a substitute for fairness.

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A Question the System Must Answer

As Kenya looks to the future, the pressing question is not whether students are strong enough to endure, but whether the education system is fair enough to stop testing their strength in the first place. Until then, resilience will remain a requirement not a choice.