Fear over new education law misplaced

In The Standard on April 25, Baraton University’s Mr & Mrs Jeff Oganga wrote that they are opposed to the Education Bill, 2012, that seeks to entrench free and compulsory schooling for children.In an article entitled New law threatens home schooling, the duo hold that that the proposed law will undermine "those who want to train their children differently." That argument cannot hold in a developing country such as Kenya.Home schooling is well-developed system in the West, particularly US where home school families opt to help teach subjects such as foreign languages. Such parents have had a comparatively sophisticated education that gives them technical ability to provide instruction to their children and means to hire tutors to teach at home.Most Kenyan families don’t have the necessary educational background for home instruction. Nor do they have the pedagogical skills to impart such an education even if they knew what is good for their children. They, therefore, cannot provide a coherent and systematic education experience. They also do not have the means to hire qualified teachers for this purpose.On the contrary, the hunger for public schooling/education has grown remarkably both in enrolment and formal institutions of education.According to the Ministry of Education, the number of public and private primary schools increased from 6,058 in 1963 to 27,489 in 2010. Secondary schools increased from 151 to 7,308 in the same periodEnrolment in primary school has grown from 892,000 in 1963 to about 9.4 million pupils in 2010 while secondary education hit 1.7 million students in 2010 from 30,000 in 1963. Free Primary Education and Free Day Secondary Education programmes started in 2003 and 2008 will define the legacy of Kibaki Presidency.The Education Bill, 2012, and the draft policy paper, Align Education and Training to the Constitution of Kenya (2010) and Kenya Vision 2030 and beyond, seek to address the challenges the massive expansion in school enrolment has posed. They seek to address equity, quality, relevance and efficiency in the management of educational resources. Apart from arguing that education worthy its salt is one that trains thinkers and not mere reflectors of other people’s thoughts, American educator and theologian, Ellen White rooted for an education that inculcated certain values and morals in her book, Education.reformThe Ministry of Education has acknowledged the need to reform the secondary school curriculum to shift from knowledge reproduction to knowledge production with ICT central to it. In Democracy and Education, American Philosopher, John Dewey argued that education should aim at not only to improve the quality of basic schooling but also make it accessible to all children because all children had the same destiny, and should be accorded the same quality schooling.&#8239;The draft Bill and policy framework has taken these crucial issues. Some of the factors that fuel the home schooling movement in the US are concern about the school environment like safety, drugs, or negative peer pressure. Parents want to provide religious or moral instruction.The Government has adopted child-friendly schooling where discrimination or stereotyping is illegal. The realisation of the values, projections and ambitions of the Constitution and Kenya Vision 2030 cannot be left to chance — to homeschooling. It will depend on the human resource base with requisite skills, knowledge, attitudes and behavioral orientations that support a middle-income economy.These must be centrally planned and depends on a national curriculum not the idiosyncrasies of parents who may cultivate different values and different skills sets.&#8239;Kennedy Buhere, Communications Officer, Ministry of Education.Don’t allow MPs mess revenue allocationThe Revenue Allocation Commission (CRA) released the proposed revenue allocation for each county. This is good news. Giving every region and citizens a chance to participate in nation building is a constitutional right. Are Kenyans ready to play civic duty in developing the country? All counties have been allocated colossal sums of money to meet their development targets. It is a major departure from the past where development was based on a region’s support for the establishment. Thanks to the Constitution, every administrative unit is entitled to financial support. Kenyans should be grateful to the CRA for crafting a sound revenue allocation formula to ensure equity. For some MPs to call a press conference to make cheap political capital out a noble move is the peak of dishonesty. Why didn’t the dissenting MPs wait for the document on the floor of the house? Allocation of public resources is pegged on the population size and poverty index. Legislators claiming that national resources be dished out to regions on the basis of size of a county are not logical. Services are brought closer to the people not just a vast area of land, which is sparsely populated. Prudent investment of the resources is what will spur development not some populist criterion. A critical analysis of the utilization of devolved funds is mandatory to avoid the mishaps of the past. Fund release ought to rely on a sound development long-term strategy. A proper milestone for the earmarked projects is essential for monitoring of the progress so made under the funding. The central government cannot abdicate the role of monitoring to the County governments. Development plans at the County level must fit into the overall national development strategy. Duplication of projects should not be allowed and both should compliment each other. Devolution must succeed. B Amaya, NairobiThe decision by CRA to submit the method of allocating money to the counties is welcome. However, further explanation on the disparities is needed. The argument about size and population in allocating funds is almost convincing but how does endowed counties like Nairobi, Kiambu and Nakuru receive more than those that urgently require economic emancipation like Lamu and Moyale? We have made serious strides towards achieving the millennium development goals, reaching the objectives of Vision 2030 and trampling inequalities related to inequitable distribution of resources. Micah Cheserem should be bold enough to guide the process without any fear or favour.Godfrey Mbayi Tipo, NairobiIteere’s indifference on NHIF’s raw dealDespite public sector workers and the military giving their opinion on the National Hospital Insurance Fund’s (NHIF) new medical scheme and pushing for extra perks, Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere is behaving like an agent of the insurance scheme. The insurer is lecturing police officers at their stations on theories about the scheme, which are practically impossible but smirk of financial rip-off. Diversion of officers’ medical allowance to top up the monthly deductions to NHIF is a scam. Officers ought to be consulted or bargain agreeable standards.NHIF recently reported cash savings and bulk reserves while police officers have been taking loans for treatment or opting to live in conditions that are blamed on financial constraints. The in-house police medical fund is operated at the prerogative of Police Commissioner while all officers pay monthly deductions. Police have no evacuation choppers or a hospital like the military. The nature of police work is special and lumping them together with other public workers despite their unique needs is wrong. Officers would even opt to pay higher premiums for proper care. But senior police officers’ attitude to the plight of officers is puzzling. The expected Police Service Commission should immediately stamp its authority on such a blatantly raw deal.Concerned, Via EmailMake sex offenders database publicRecent reports in the media show that the sexual offenders database would be accessible to a few persons and/or organisations. It should never be secret. The Judiciary cannot join the ranks institutions violating the constitutional requirement of access to information. Anybody must be able check whether their name is listed as someone could be listed through stolen identity or malice.Schools, employers and neighbourhood organi ations must also be allowed to access.You should have a right to know who has searched for your name in the database and why. Getting a database transcript from a mobile telecoms provider costs only Sh25 and the Judiciary can allow for a database search at the registrars office for similar amounts.Even for trials held in camera, the public has the right to know whether one is guilty or not guilty or if the case has been settled. In US, some sexual offense cases are overturned by scientific evidence many decades after a conviction.The Judiciary must be prepared to bear the consequences for wrongly listing a person in the Sexual Offenders Database.Dr Nyagudi Musandu, Nairobi

Fear over new education law misplaced

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