Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has again urged universities to enforce high quality standards and ensure students study under the supervision of competent and well trained lecturers.
Dr Matiang’i like other experts and policy makers have noted that more needs to be done to improve the quality of tertiary education. They have expressed alarm at reports of shoddy supervision of students and poor management of universities.
Last month, the Ministry of Education directed some universities to comply with the standards set out by the Commission for University Education. In this regard, Kisii University was among the colleges given a grace period of 12 months to clean up their act or face immediate closure.
There is no denying that there is a shortage of qualified lecturers, particularly those with doctoral qualifications. As a result, universities have resorted to hiring part-time lecturers, many whom have complained that they are not paid on time.
Demonstrations by part-time lecturers of Mt Kenya University were partly defused after the university made partial payments. Many part-time lecturers of Kenya Methodist University complain that they have worked for more than a year without pay.
Tribalism in many public universities has also raised the Ministry’s ire. These issues collectively contribute to undermining the quality of education. They must be addressed now to step up the quality of instruction and learning.
