The ministry was established under the Kenya law to deal with all education-related policies in the county. It is led by a Cabinet Secretary who is appointed by the president of the Republic of Kenya. The ministry has 3 departments, Basic Education, Technical Education, and University Education. Each of these departments is headed by the Permanent Secretary who is the accounting officer of the section.
To help run the wide ministry functions there are different specialized Semi-autonomous government agencies (SAGAs) that the ministry oversees. With these SAGAs and other stakeholders in education, the ministry can meet government objectives on education.