Ruto orders review of Kenya school capitation, report due January

President William Ruto told school heads in Mombasa on 12 November 2026 that he expects a report on school capitation by January, and announced an extra KSh 4 billion for teacher promotions and career progression.

He was speaking at the annual general meeting and conference of the Kenya Comprehensive School Heads Association at the Sheikh Zayed Children Welfare Centre in Nyali. He directed the Ministry of Education to work with school heads on a further review of capitation that takes inflation into account.

"I expect a report on my desk by January next year so that I can make a decision on which way to go," Ruto said. The Star quoted him as saying the last time capitation was reviewed was "way back in 2015".

Primary school capitation has risen from KSh 1,400 to KSh 2,340 per learner, he said.

Capitation was released this year in three instalments: KSh 44 billion in January, KSh 23.4 billion in April and KSh 18.5 billion in August. Ruto said capitation funds will in future be released before schools open.

Ruto said 50,000 teachers will be promoted in the current financial year, and the extra KSh 4 billion is for promotions and career progression. Capital FM reported that he called it the largest promotion exercise in a single year and said the Salaries and Remuneration Commission had approved new career progression guidelines agreed between the Teachers Service Commission and the teachers' unions.

The government has recruited 100,000 teachers and expects 20,000 more to join in December, Ruto said. He said Kenya faced a shortage of 116,000 teachers in 2022.

On teachers' pay, Ruto said the PAYE exemption threshold has risen from KSh 24,000 to KSh 32,000, leaving KSh 8,000 untaxed. On his figures, that saves a teacher KSh 2,000, set against a KSh 750 housing levy deduction. "The net effect is that you will get KSh 1,250 more into your salary," he said. He told teachers not to believe claims that the government takes a large share of their pay.

Ruto said 20 per cent of Affordable Housing Programme units are reserved for teachers. Teachers' health cover now reaches 1.3 million people, made up of 426,000 teachers and 887,000 dependants, and access has widened from 900 to more than 4,000 health facilities, he said.

Primary and junior schools will be merged into single institutions called Comprehensive Schools, with funding to match, he said. The Basic Education Act will be amended to give the model a legal basis.

Ruto said more than 800,000 non-existent pupils and nearly 200 fake schools were found in primary school registers, and that every learner's record is being digitised. The Star reported that he cited findings that 29 per cent of Grade Nine learners in junior schools lacked both reading and numeracy skills.

He set a goal for every child to read, write and count by the end of Grade Three. KBC reported that he pledged to publish results county by county and school by school.

Also present were Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs Cabinet Secretary Hassan Ali Joho, Basic Education Principal Secretary John Ololtuaa and Kenya National Union of Teachers Secretary-General Collins Oyuu. Ruto said the era of teachers' strikes is a thing of the past. Oyuu commended him for investing in teacher promotion and the timely release of capitation.

Fuad Ali, the association's national chair, thanked the president for the reforms.