By Daniel Omanyo and Izel Kipruto
Kenya’s education reforms are ambitious, but their success hinges on a question too often overlooked: Who Teaches the Teachers and Who Will? Behind every well-trained teacher stands a university lecturer shaping the quality of learning for millions. Yet evidence shows our higher education system is straining under growing demand and shrinking faculty capacity. Kenya faces a critical shortage of university faculty to prepare teachers for the Competency-Based Education (CBE). Investing in those who teach the teachers is important for lasting reform.
What the data show
Recent findings from the Demographics of African Faculty in the East African Community (DAF-EAC) project, a collaboration between Education Sub Saharan Africa (ESSA), the Inter-University Council for East Africa, the Association of African Universities, and the Population Reference Bureau, paint a clear picture of this challenge.
Across East Africa, student enrolment in universities has surged over the past decade, but faculty recruitment has not kept pace. In Kenya, for instance, the DAF-EAC study shows that no discipline currently meets the student–teacher ratio targets set out in the 2014 Universities Regulations. The situation is most pressing in Faculties of Education, where the Commission for University Education recommends a ratio of 15 students per lecturer. In reality, the average ratio stands at 53 to 1.
Put simply, one lecturer may be responsible for teaching and mentoring more than fifty students, over three times the recommended number. This makes it difficult to give students the personalised attention they need, engage in quality research, or develop innovative teaching methods. Yet, this data also highlights an opportunity: investing in and strengthening faculty capacity can directly improve the quality of university education, research, and innovation across Kenya and the region.
Why it matters
Teacher educators sit at the heart of Kenya’s education system. They are the ones who prepare teachers to bring our education reforms to life, from early childhood to tertiary and technical training. Their ability to provide quality instruction, mentorship, and research guidance directly shapes the quality of learning in classrooms across the country. At the recent Education Evidence for Action conference held at Embu University, under the theme “Reimagining Teacher Education for Sustainable Development in Africa,” this issue took centre stage. In his keynote remarks, the Cabinet Secretary for Education referenced the DAF-EAC findings, noting that Kenya may need to recruit about 35,000 new faculty members by 2030 to meet university staffing norms. This acknowledgement is a positive sign that policy decisions are increasingly being guided by evidence. Strengthening the higher education workforce is not just about numbers, it is about ensuring that the next generation of teachers, and in turn learners, receive the quality education they deserve. Building a stronger faculty base today will make Kenya’s education system more resilient, responsive, and ready for the future. The urgency of this issue is clear. The recent lecturers’ strike laid bare long-standing concerns about pay, workload, and morale across universities. It echoes the DAF-EAC findings and reminds us that lasting education reform depends not only on policy and staffing targets, but also on valuing and supporting those who teach the teachers.
Learning from broader trends
Kenya’s experience reflects a wider continental pattern. A recent study by the Research on Socio-Economic Policy at Stellenbosch University found that half of South African teachers are considering leaving the profession within the next decade, largely due to burnout and heavy workloads. While the contexts differ, the lesson is universal: when educators, whether in schools or universities, feel overstretched and undervalued, the quality of education inevitably suffers. Preventing similar pressures within higher education must therefore be a national priority.
Pathways forward
Addressing the faculty shortage requires more than filling vacancies. It demands a comprehensive, long-term strategy that balances recruitment with sustained investment in professional growth and institutional support. Kenya can take several key actions to strengthen its higher education workforce. This includes building robust data systems to guide evidence-based planning and forecasting, improving working conditions and incentives to make academic careers more attractive to young professionals, and expanding professional development opportunities in pedagogy, research, and technology. Equally important is promoting mentorship and succession planning to nurture the next generation of scholars and leaders within universities. As Kenya embraces digital learning and the opportunities of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, teacher educators must be equipped to integrate emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, into their teaching. By doing so, they can help ensure that Africa’s young people are not only consumers of technology but also creators of innovation.
Building a sustainable future
Budget limits are real, but DAF-EAC data show that targeted, evidence-led planning can direct scarce resources where they matter most. The cost of inaction is far higher: overcrowded classes, falling quality, and an education system struggling to meet its promise. Kenya has expanded access and reformed its curriculum. The next step is clear, invest in the people who make that system work: those who teach the teachers. By prioritising faculty recruitment, development, and wellbeing, Kenya can rebuild the foundation of its education system and ensure every learner is guided by a motivated, well-prepared, and innovative teacher. Because the real question isn’t whether we can afford to invest in teacher educators, but whether we can afford not to.
Daniel Omanyo is the Research Manager, and Izel Kipruto is the Head of Communications at ESSA
