Narc Kenya party leader Martha Karua, former United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi, former Makueni county governor Kivutha Kibwana and former Mukurweini constituency Member of Parliament Kabando Wa Kabando have hit out at President William Ruto’s regime over crisis facing the education sector.

In a press conference held on Thursday, November 14, 2024, Karua and her counterparts said the President Ruto regime is playing with fire in a systematic destruction of education at all levels.

Karua on state of education

They argue that the Kenya Kwanza administration is driving learning to the brink of collapse with catastrophic consequences for a whole generation of the country’s youth.

“The government of President Ruto is playing with fire in a systematic destruction of education at all levels. Through a cacophony of ill conceived reform, betrayal of election promises, contempt of court rulings, intimidation of critics as its modus operandi in public universities, disregard of CBAs it has entered with lecturers, and an arrogant disregard for the extreme impact of its actions and omissions on learners from poor backgrounds, this government is driving learning to the brink of collapse with catastrophic consequences for a whole generation of our youth,” they stated.

PRESS STATEMENT:

Crisis in the education sector: The Ruto Regime is mortgaging the future of children and youth in Kenya

The Ruto Regime is playing with fire in a systematic destruction of education at all levels. Through the cacophony of ill conceived reform, betrayal of… pic.twitter.com/2fLGWwLqNP

— Martha Karua SC (@MarthaKarua) November 14, 2024

They further slammed the government for failing to produce results on the initiated education sector reforms, two years into leadership.

“The Kenya Kwanza government came into office with a blaze of pompous promises to use education as a tool to equalize children regardless of the economic status of their parents. They waxed lyrical on how new curricula would align skills and labour market requirements. They lauded the launch of a presidential task force on education as the midwife of a modern sustainable model of funding tertiary education,” their statement read in part.

“What results is the country harvesting from the first two years of their government? An inept hotchpotch of half baked reform measures, unintelligent imposition of reforms without supporting infrastructure, personnel and resources, a vengeful rebuttal of evident failure, an attempt to use blackmail and brinkmanship to confront those telling them their efforts are more hurtful than the problem they set out to resolve.”

Shortage of teachers

They also took issue with the shortage of teachers in ECD centres across the country, inadequate infrastructure, and unresolved issues in teacher recruitment for both levels of secondary schooling.

“Across the country ECD education is suffering from an acute shortage of teachers with requisite skills and inadequate infrastructure. The contentious problem of teacher recruitment for both levels of secondary schooling remains unresolved. This will directly impact the nationwide quality of tuition in public schools and greatly disadvantage the children of the poor in competing for quality tertiary education compared to those attending private schools and private tuition,” the statement read.

Bishops slam Ruto

Their statement comes just hours after the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops reprimanded President Ruto’s administration over what they claimed is perpetuating the culture of lies and failing to address the issue of abductions.

The men of cloth went all out to castigate the Kenya Kwanza administration, claiming that they have failed to uphold integrity and have resolved to spew lies on major issues affecting the nation.