Education reforms must aim at improving quality of learning

Ongoing reforms in the education sector should not create a fresh wedge among stakeholders. The new directions are ruffling feathers as the academic calendar, starting January next year, beckons. The changes must be in the best interest of learners and improving the quality of instruction. For far too long, the education sector has been marred with altercations between the Government, the teachers’ employer and the unions, especially when deliberating on terms of service.

Teachers’ unions have been known more for calling industrial actions over remuneration than agitating for better learning environments. The abrasive Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has rolled out a raft of changes including a new curriculum, free secondary education and radical proposals to universities from next year.

Some changes have not gone down well with some people, hence the flip-flopping on their support to the minister. While the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Secretary General Wilson Sossion had indicated that teachers would not support the changes for lack of consultations, the head teachers meeting in Mombasa parted ways with him and resolved to help the Government implement the new programmes.

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has also been accused of not consulting teachers on staffing changes and a rule requiring school heads to be posted away from their home counties. Further, a teacher must have a Masters degree to be promoted to a head teacher. The new rules caused uproar during a head teachers’ conference in Mombasa this week.

While some argued that posting teachers away from their spouses exposed them to anti-social behaviour and risk of HIV infection, Mr Sossion said the teaching fraternity and sorority is built around the community where a teacher should not teach far away from his or her community. TSC has also proposed dissolution of boards of schools sharing a compound and merging them. Still, we urge more consultation and smooth transitions to avert ugly scenes while enacting this proposal.