Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migos Ogamba has set up a 52-member task team to investigate the wave of school unrest that has hit Kenyan schools this year. Former University of Nairobi Vice-Chancellor Prof Peter Mulwa Mbithi will chair it.

The team was appointed in a Gazette notice dated Friday, October 23, 2026, months after Ogamba first promised a multi-sector inquiry in June. It has 90 days to complete its work, must give the CS monthly progress reports and will hand in a final report at the end of its term.

"The Task Team shall subsist for a period of ninety (90) days from the date of publication of this notice," the Gazette notice reads, as quoted by Kenyans.co.ke.

A wide mandate

According to the notice, the team will "investigate, assess, and make recommendations regarding the immediate, underlying, and systemic causes" of the 2026 disturbances, The Standard reported. It will review earlier reports on school unrest and check why many of their recommendations were never put in place.

The team will also look at whether unrest differs by region, type of school, gender, age, disability and boarding status, and at the role of social media, smartphones and misinformation. It has been asked to audit how adequate and well-enforced current school safety, security and emergency rules are.

Boarding schools, where most of the unrest and deaths have occurred, will get particular attention. The team will review boarding models and the state of dormitories and other facilities. It will also study how school fees, capitation grants and the cost of uniforms relate to the unrest, and the overall cost of education from pre-primary to senior school.

Student discipline, guidance and counselling, mental health support and learner welfare are also in its terms of reference. So is the accountability of principals, school boards, parents, education officials and security agencies. It must produce a prioritised and costed plan for putting its recommendations in place, and it will take views from stakeholders and the public.

Who is on the team

Members include Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary-General Collins Oyuu, Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) National Secretary Secondary Edward Obwocha, and Kenya National Examinations Council chairperson Prof Julius Nyabundi. National Parents Association chairman Silas Obuhatsa and Assistant Inspector General of Police George Lenny Kisaka are also on the team.

Others are Council of Legal Education chairperson Prof Collins Odote, Kenyatta University education scholar Prof Jackline Nyerere, Dr Purity Ngina, former Busia deputy governor Kizito Wangalwa and education expert Janet Ouko. Dr William Sugut, who heads the Directorate of Secondary Education, will lead an eight-member joint secretariat.

While most outlets put the membership at 52, The Standard's summary described it as a 60-member team.

A deadly year in schools

The inquiry follows a turbulent year in which fires and riots disrupted learning in about 204 secondary schools, according to Kenyans.co.ke, with several schools closed early. The worst incident was a dormitory fire at Utumishi Girls in Gilgil, Nakuru County, on May 28, 2026, which killed 16 students. Eight students have since denied murder charges over the fire.

Mbithi led the University of Nairobi from 2015 to 2019. His team's findings are due in late January 2027, around the time the 2027 school year begins.

Photos: Kenyans.co.ke