President William Ruto has called on students, parents, teachers and communities to work together in promoting discipline and nurturing responsible citizens following recent incidents of unrest in schools across the country.
Speaking at Burieruri Boys High School, the President said the unrest should serve as a wake-up call, emphasizing that education is not only about academic success but also about building character, peaceful conflict resolution and personal responsibility.
He urged learners to carefully consider the consequences of their actions, noting that while some mistakes fade with time, others leave lifelong scars.
The Head of State appealed to parents to play a more active role in raising their children, saying schools alone cannot shoulder the responsibility of instilling values and discipline.
He encouraged parents to know their children’s friends, understand their challenges and support them throughout their growth.
President Ruto also called for a return to traditional African parenting values where the entire community took collective responsibility for the welfare and upbringing of children.
The President reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to providing quality education across the country, saying every school, regardless of its location, age or reputation, deserves equal attention and support.
He noted that after visiting several of Kenya’s leading institutions, including Alliance High School, Maseno School, Kapsabet Boys High School and Thika High School, his visit to Burieruri Boys demonstrated that all schools are important because they nurture the country’s future.
”Every school matters. Every learner matters. Every teacher matters,” he said, adding that no institution is too small and no child is too far to deserve the government’s attention.
The President described education as the greatest equaliser capable of transforming lives regardless of a learner’s background.
He said this belief has informed the government’s decision to allocate nearly 30 percent of the national budget to education, increasing funding from Sh526 billion in 2022 to Sh784 billion in the 2026/27 financial year.
He highlighted key achievements in the education sector, including the recruitment and deployment of 100,000 teachers, with an additional 24,000 set to be employed.
He added that nearly 400,000 teachers have been retrained to effectively implement the Competency-Based Education and Training (CBET) curriculum.
President Ruto further said the government, through the Ministry of Education and the National Government Constituencies Development Fund, has constructed more than 23,000 classrooms over the past three years and is building 1,600 modern science laboratories to strengthen science, technology, engineering and mathematics education.
He also defended reforms in higher education financing, saying the student-centred funding model has stabilised universities facing financial challenges while ensuring support is allocated based on students’ needs and merit.
