Inside Kenya’s Silent Crisis: Over 26,000 Public Schools Lack Title Deeds
More than 26,000 public schools in Kenya are vulnerable to land grabbing despite government efforts to safeguard school properties through title registration that have been going on for over a decade.
According to Ministry of Education data, out of nearly 31,000 public schools, only about 5,000 have valid title deeds, leaving the majority at risk of encroachment and fraudulent ownership claims.
The government has launched several interventions since 2015 — including a Presidential directive on school titling, the National Working Group on Titling of Public Schools (2017) and the Rapid School Titling Data Collection initiative (2018). Yet, fraudulent land transfers and forged ownership documents are rampant and undermining progress.
In 2024 and 2025, Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba issued new directives requiring all regional and county education officials to ensure every school under their jurisdiction gets a title deed within a year.
“We have instructed our ministry directors to audit all schools and identify those without title deeds so that we can fast-track the process with the Ministry of Lands,” he said.
Despite these efforts, court cases across the country show the magnitude of the crisis. Court records show a pattern of fraudulent transfers and forged titles used to dispossess schools of their land.
Court Cases Expose Massive Land Theft
Recent high-profile cases illustrate how deep the problem goes. Two men were charged in Nairobi for allegedly forging ownership documents to defraud Starehe Boys’ Centre of land valued at Sh5 billion in Westlands. In another case, Lavington Primary School fought a 15-year legal battle before the government finally returned its 13-acre parcel in June 2025.
“We are determined to reverse illegal allocations and secure all public school lands,” said Lands CS Alice Wahome during the handover ceremony. She urged affected schools to contact her ministry for assistance.
In Parklands, North Highridge Primary School has gone to court, claiming part of its land was sold to Mandera Governor Mohammed Adan Khalif, who has since built high-rise apartments on the disputed parcel. The school’s management says they have been trying to get a title deed since 2004 but to no avail.Also, Ngara Girls High School got Sh13 million in compensation after a court ruled that a private developer, Erdemann Property Ltd, had encroached on their land and polluted the learning environment during construction.
In Kiambu County, Umoja Primary School in Thika was found to have trespassed on privately owned land after a double allocation error. The court ordered talks between the school and the land owner to prevent disruption of learning.
Meanwhile, Marura Primary School in Kitale was saved from losing its 2.3-hectare parcel after a court nullified a fraudulent title deed issued to a private claimant. Justice Fred Nyagaka ruled that the title’s origin was illegal, saying fraudulent allocations cannot stand under the Land Registration Act.
In Kakamega County, Lugari Township Primary School parents and pupils recently protested after a developer built residential houses on a part of the school land.
EACC and Transparency Reports Raise Alarm
A 2023 Transparency International report shows that only 30% of public schools are safe from land grabbing. The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has also intervened in several recovery efforts, including saving a Sh50 million parcel belonging to Kitale School, which had been allocated for commercial use.
The EACC said such allocations are part of a bigger corruption network targeting public institutions.
Experts Want Urgent Titling
Experts say lack of land ownership for schools is threatening the country’s education infrastructure. Many are now calling for fast tracking of titling and stricter action against fraudsters.
The issue gained national attention after the 2015 Lang’ata Road Primary School land grab which sparked public outcry and government promises to secure all public school lands. Ten years later, progress is still slow.
“Protecting school land is protecting our children’s future — there’s no compromise,” said CS Wahome.
Thousands of schools are still without title deeds, Kenya’s education sector is exposed to land grabbing that’s still threatening learning environments across the country.
Inside Kenya’s Silent Crisis: Over 26,000 Public Schools Lack Title Deeds