Taskforce to tweak CBC report before final submission

The Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (PWPER) is now expected to fine-tune the final report on education reforms before its timeline lapses next month.

The 49-member team, led by Prof Raphael Munavu, presented the report to President William Ruto last Thursday.  Team is expected to develop a comprehensive report that covers the entire education sector right from pre-school to university level. Taskforce presented its preliminary findings last December, which covered the Competency Based Curriculum, especially transition from primary level to Junior Secondary School.

 Ruto pledged to address the challenges facing CBC, even as he tasked the team to assess and recommend an appropriate structure to implement the curriculum.

“The Working Party is to study all laws governing the basic education sub sector and make recommendations for review of these legislations with a view to addressing duplication, ambiguities, efficiency constraints and improving linkages,” the President urged the taskforce. On tertiary and university education, the team was to review and recommend a governance and financing framework for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (Tvet) training and development, university education, research and training.

They were to study all laws governing the tertiary education sub sector and make recommendations for review of these legislations with a view to streamlining effectiveness and efficiency in the sub sector. The team is expected to amend some of the areas covered in the second taskforce report on Tvet and university education presented to the President last week.

Among issues raised in the report included the recommended Differentiated Unit Cost (DUC) of 80 per cent that has not been fully implemented and instead, has been going down from 66 per cent to 48 per cent.

There was a call to consider a waiver of statutory deductions that are long overdue and outstanding taxes on staff salaries which have accrued due to budget deficits.  According to stakeholders, the Government should consider a bailout on conditional grants to settle them.

Stakeholders also raised the fee question for government-sponsored students, saying the Sh16,000 has not been adjusted upwards since 1989 and should be raised to at least Sh52,000.

They also called for a fair, transparent and equitable criterion for funding of capital development funds in higher education institutions.

“The Government should provide universities with a bailout package for pension, CBA and salary arrears that are pending. The penalties and interests on Pay As You Earn arrears should be waived and a conditional grant to cater for the principal PAYE arrears be provided,” the taskforce had recommended in its report.