When President William Ruto and Emmanuel Macron signed 11 bilateral agreements in Nairobi this week, the language was grand: innovation, digital transformation, skills development, artificial intelligence and youth empowerment. Buried within the infrastructure announcements and billion-shilling investment promises was an education agenda Kenya’s policymakers will likely market as a breakthrough for the country’s young population. The two governments pledged deeper cooperation in STEM education, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), digital infrastructure, artificial intelligence and skills development. But beyond the diplomatic photographs and polished communiqués lies a harder question: who exactly benefits from these education partnerships? Kenya’s education sector is littered with memoranda of understanding that generated headlines but delivered little lasting change in overcrowded classrooms, underfunded TVET institutions or public universit...
Beyond the Game