This paper provides a comparative perspective of two of the three East African Countries policies for
expanding access to education, particularly with regard to equity and quality of basic education in Kenya and
Tanzania. Against the background of the fast approaching deadline of 2015 for attaining Education for All
(EFA), the paper provides a brief review of the policies in light of countries own stated goals alongside the
broader international agendas set by the World Forum on EFA. It is concerned with two questions: What were
the politics and underpinning philosophy surrounding the formulation of the policies in Kenya and Tanzania
and have the policies changed over time, and if so why? What are the critical emerging challenges inhibiting
the attainment of equity and quality of education in the two countries? The source of data for the paper was a
combination of secondary data through desk literature review and primary data from studies conducted in some
regions in the two countries, particularly in North Eastern Province of Kenya and Shinyanga Region in
Tanzania. The major finding is that tremendous quantitative growth has occurred in access to primary and
secondary education in the two countries. Nonetheless, education in these countries have been fraught with
nearly similar unique multifarious and intertwined challenges of providing education, resulting in marked and
severe regional and gender disparities in access to, and low quality of education. The two countries have put in
place a series of educational interventions and drives including free primary education and subsidized
secondary education, as well as bursaries for the poor needy learners that are yielding slow but positive
progress towards the attainment of EFA goals. It is recommended that in order to attain EFA goals by 2015,
these efforts should be accelerated and intensified with a view to reversing regional and gender disparities
keeping in mind the fact that the deadline for the attainment of EFA goals is fast approaching and therefore
making it urgent to translate the education policies into practice rather that the current rhetoric chimera.