Embu, Kenya — The National Gender and Equality Commission has warned that entrenched cultural and institutional practices — not simply gaps in law — continue to lock many Kenyan children out of meaningful schooling, as delegates closed the 6th Biennial Education Evidence for Action (EE4A) conference held in Embu in late August 2025.

In a keynote address that drew academics, county education officials and civil society representatives, NGEC Chief Executive Officer Dr Purity Ngina said the drivers of gendered practices in schools were layered: religion, cultural norms, policy shortfalls and the attitudes of teachers combined to produce exclusionary outcomes for girls, learners with disabilities and other marginalised groups.

The conference, which ran alongside the inaugural Education Deans Forum, was formally opened by the Cabinet Secretary for Education, underscoring the government’s interest in bridging research and policy for teacher education and foundational learning. The event showcased evidence from researchers and practitioners and sought practical options for reforming teacher training and school leadership.

Dr Ngina stressed that legal guarantees of equality—enshrined in the Constitution and supported by NGEC’s statutory mandate— must be accompanied by deliberate, measurable practice at school and community levels. The Commission, created under the National Gender and Equality Commission Act 2011, is charged with monitoring compliance, advising on policy, investigating violations and coordinating public education on equality and nondiscrimination. In Embu, the CEO said these institutional responsibilities must translate into routine school-level actions.

Several speakers used evidence presented at the conference to illustrate the human cost of inaction. Delegates described recurring patterns: girls who drop out after the onset of menstruation because of stigma and lack of sanitary provision, learners with disabilities who face inaccessible school environments, and children withdrawn from school to undergo cultural rites. Those accounts reinforced NGEC’s argument that statistics alone are a blunt instrument unless accompanied by community engagement and systemic reforms.

The forum also highlighted the Commission’s role in converting research into programmes. Dr Ngina challenged stakeholders to pilot context-specific interventions across rural, pastoral and urbanmarginalised counties to test what works before scaling interventions nationally.