More than 2,000 rural primary schools in Kenya are facing closure or forced mergers after a 2017 education reform triggered a sharp collapse in student enrollment, leaving some schools with fewer than five pupils. The overhaul — known as Competency-Based Education — extended primary schooling to include a new junior secondary stage requiring science laboratories, specialist teachers, and additional facilities that under-resourced rural schools cannot provide, prompting parents to transfer their children to better-equipped institutions often several kilometres away. Kenya's Education Minister Julius Ogamba has confirmed the crisis, announcing audits and mergers while setting a minimum threshold of 45 students per school, but critics warn the closures are fuelling dangerous overcrowding elsewhere and that the government skipped essential planning steps in rolling out the new system.