When President William Ruto took over the reins of power, he raised the hopes of Kenyans when he formed the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms, which was expected to address the chaos in the education sector.
But almost a year since the Raphael Munavu-led task force handed over its recommendations, the sector still finds itself in utter confusion with uncertainty over the university funding model.
The Ministry of Education, previously headed by Ezekiel Machogu and currently in the hands of Migosi Ogamba seems to be grumbling in the dark.
Threats by the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and Kenya Union of Post Primary Education (KUPPET) to mobilize their members to down tools over the government’s failure to implement past signed deals have left uncertainty over the reopening of schools next Monday.
Apart from pushing for the implementation of Phase II of the CBA, the teachers’ unions are also pushing for promotion of more than 230, 000 teachers alleged to have stagnated in the same job groups for long, conversion of 46, 000 Junior Secondary School intern teachers on contracts to permanent terms and efficient administration of teachers’ medical cover.
The teachers are further demanding remittance of thirty party and statutory deductions and a review of the career progression guidelines.
It defeats any logic for the government to make deductions from employees’ salaries and fail to remit the same to the intended entity, be they banks for loans owed or statutory bodies such as the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF).
There was a flicker of hope yesterday, but it remains to be seen whether the government will honour its side of the bargain. The same thing is engulfing the university sector where the government has been sending mixed messages on the funding models.
The implementation of the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) has continues to be plagued with confusion. Only a year before the first batch of Grade Nine moves to Grade 10, where students are expected to settle on their respective career pathways, the government is yet to categorise schools that would specialise in arts and sports, sciences and social sciences.
Neither has the government formatted the criterion that would be used to determine the admission of students into various schools.
