Prefects will now monitor teachers

By Kepher Otieno

The Ministry of Education will now use class prefects to identify and punish non-performing teachers, The Standard has learnt.

In a radical move likely to ruffle feathers among teachers, the prefects will now have to mark and sign teachers’ lessons to prove they attended classes.

In a circular signed by the ministry’s Director of Quality Assurance, Enos Oyaya, prefects will also take records of the number of lessons taught or missed in a week and report the same to the class teacher, relevant head of departments or subjects and the principal and his deputy.

All departmental heads, class teachers, deputy heads and the principal will also have to verify the lesson attendance list and rate each teacher’s efficiency based on the lessons taught and whether the objective of the lesson was met.

The directive applies to all public primary and secondary schools.

On the spot

The move is part of measures created to track smooth implementation of curriculum and syllabus to improve performance in schools.

This follows a new assessment report by the ministry during a recent impromptu field visit to schools that discovered laxity as the prime cause of declining education standards in the country.

The new measures will put lazy teachers on the spot since the prefects will report them each week to their seniors for disciplinary action, in the event a trend of chronic absenteeism from class is detected.

In Nyanza, the Provincial Director of Education, Geoffrey Cherongis, has already written to District Education Officers asking them to strictly enforce the new directive.

"We want all schools in Nyanza to produce admirable results and we shall ensure that the new rules are enforced to the latter," Mr Cherongis said.

He explained that the new move was not meant to intimidate teachers but to improve service delivery.