4 Demands To CS Ogamba Over Millions Of Students Stranded By Floods
On World Day for Safety and Health at Work, Synthia Mideva Asienwa urges the Ministry of Education to step in and address learning poverty in the country
Viral Tea Ke Writer 
Kenya’s education system is under mounting pressure following devastating floods that struck during the March–May 2024 long rainy season, leaving more than two million learners without access to proper schooling.
A January 2025 report by UNICEF highlights extensive loss of teaching materials and significant damage to school infrastructure, exacerbating already critical challenges within the sector.
Even before this environmental disaster, Kenya’s education system was grappling with persistent inequality and low learning outcomes.
The World Bank Group’s Kenya Learning Poverty Brief 2024 reported that 79 percent of children completing primary school failed to achieve minimum reading proficiency, largely due to poor education quality and unequal access to learning opportunities, particularly between urban and rural areas.
Education advocates have raised urgent concerns about worsening conditions for both students and teachers. Many schools face chronic infrastructure deficits, and poverty continues to hinder effective teaching and learning environments.
Photo of Nguvu change leader Synthia Mideva Asienwa. /HANDOUT
“Access to quality education in Kenya is increasingly slipping away for children from poor backgrounds. While the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) is a good initiative, its implementation has been weak.
"Parents face rising financial burdens, overcrowded classrooms, and a lack of basic infrastructure. This makes learning harder for students and adds immense pressure on teachers,” says Nguvu change leader Synthia Mideva Asienwa.
Drawing from her own experiences growing up in poverty, Synthia stresses the profound impact that education, supported by scholarships from the Equity Group Foundation and the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB), had on her life trajectory. She warns that without immediate intervention, many children may never realise their full potential.
In response, Synthia has launched an online petition calling on Kenya’s Ministry of Education to:
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Provide digital devices to support CBC learning activities and assignments.
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Recruit additional junior secondary school teachers,
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Construct more classrooms to alleviate overcrowding, and
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Offer targeted technical training for teachers.
Her advocacy is rooted in personal experience. Growing up in poverty, Synthia says her education would have ended prematurely had she not received a scholarship from the Equity Group Foundation and the Higher Education Loans Board. “No child’s dreams should be held back by poverty,” she concludes.
Without decisive action, experts warn, Kenya risks entrenching educational inequality even further — with devastating consequences for the next generation.
