Consultations to guide education sector reforms

Amid the administration of the national examinations for 2022, I have — together with my top administration — subjected the sector to a quick baseline analysis with a view to finding an anchor upon which the new Government can roll in its interventions.

Based on this analysis, we have realised that, for us to raise the sector performance a notch higher, we must anchor our management on robust stakeholder consultations.

As a Ministry, and working with key agencies, we will walk together with all sector players while embracing regular consultations and public participation in line with our Constitution. In this, we will take a cue from the example already set through the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms, which has combed every part of our country to collect views from all Kenyans.

We will redouble efforts to motivate our staff of the Ministry of Education for them to deliver service to Kenyans in one spirit. I promise to work with all stakeholders to ensure staff deployments, recognition and promotions are strictly based on merit and are carried out in strict conformity with the law.

I am alive to the fact that regardless of how smart our policies will be, they will always be doomed to failure unless our implementing staff are motivated to work well since they sit at the execution desks, and are closer to the consumers of our services.

The ministry is also focused on reforming policies and regulations. We are looking to the Presidential Working Party to make recommendations about laws, policies and regulations in our sector. We have seen a number of attempts to amend some of the existing laws, policies and regulations, a few of which are currently pending before the National Assembly.

Under my stewardship, we will carefully consult with all stakeholders to drive the reform processes to a decisive and logical conclusion based on the recommendations of the Working Party. We will appeal to the respective committees of the National Assembly and the Senate to be patient with us as we will regularly knock on their doors as we seek these legal and policy reforms.  Inevitably, many of the expected reforms will stem from the recommendations of the Presidential Working Party when it completes its work early next year.

In his recent directive on the domiciling of Grade Six, Seven and Eight in primary school, President William Ruto ordered the Ministry of Education to provide further guidelines on the transition. Following this directive, I formed a multi-agency committee to draft guidelines that will guide the transition. Specifically, the committee is expected to draft guidelines that will effectively ensure a seamless transition from primary school Grade Six to Junior Secondary School.

 The team will also ensure the provision of adequate and well-prepared human resources to facilitate curriculum delivery for  Junior Secondary Schools and outline the roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders in the implementation of the various components of Junior Secondary Schools.

Already, the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development has released the Grade 7 Curriculum Designs and instructional materials for use at the Junior Secondary School level.

Arising from the Presidential directive, and cascaded to the Kenya National Examinations Council, the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) will not be used for placement of the learners in Junior Secondary Schools.

The KPSEA Report will, however, be part of the process of monitoring learner progress. I have directed KNEC to upload the report of the assessment on the school portals in January to enable schools to develop strategies for further teaching and learning.

Meanwhile, as is the Government tradition, all the candidates whose results I am releasing today will be admitted to Form One under the 100 per cent transition policy.  There should be no case of any parent or guardian keeping their children at home when admissions to Form One are opened up as this is against the Constitutional requirement. 

—The writer is the Cabinet Secretary for Education. This is an abridged version of the speech he gave during yesterday’s release of the 2022  KCPE examination