Students at Crawford International School. The institution combines the rigorous Cambridge Curriculum with forward-thinking parallel frameworks to cultivate 21st-century career skills. [Courtesy]
Kenyan schools risk producing graduates who look good on paper but lack practical workplace skills, unless they rethink exam-centred teaching.
Academic results remain a key measure of student performance. Still, they do not always show whether a graduate can solve problems, work with others or adapt to unfamiliar situations at work.
That gap is becoming harder to ignore as artificial intelligence and other technologies change how businesses operate, alter existing jobs and create new demands for workers.
About 15.2 per cent of Kenyan youth aged 15 to 24 were unemployed in 2025, according to World Bank estimates, and the Federation of Kenya Employers says more than 1 million young people enter the labour market every year, many without the skills employers need.
Young people entering the job market therefore face a workplace where technical knowledge alone may not be enough.
Employers need workers who can adapt, communicate, reason and apply what they have learnt to real-world problems.
Crawford International School Executive Principal Amanda Birkenstock said schools must respond by giving learners practical skills alongside academic knowledge.