Shape up or ship out, Education CS Magoha warns lazy ministry officials

Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha (centre), PSs Belio Kipsang (left) and Collette Suda at the ministry offices in Nairobi, yesterday. [Courtesy]

New Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha walked in unannounced at the ministry’s Jogoo House headquarters catching officials off guard.  

Many of the staff had not reported to work way past 8am, the official reporting time, when Prof Magoha walked in accompanied  by PSs Colleta Suda and Belio Kipsang.

Non-performing staff

The new CS hit the ground running, outlining his vision for the ministry and warning non-performing staff to either shape upor ship out.

He warned that any ministry official out to derail the government programmes would be fired.

Speaking at the early morning meeting at Jogoo House on Thursday, Prof Magoha said he would ensure the new Competency-Based Curriculum is implemented and deliver on free education learning programmes, increased school enrollment and high integrity of national examinations.

“I am asking lazy staff to either shape up or start packing,” he told senior education ministry officials. He issued a stern warning to ministry officials on punctuality.

“I am giving all of you a second chance but you must know that you will no longer keep stealing government working hours the way you’ve been doing,” he said.

Magoha, who until last week was the chairman of the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) singled out the ministry’s quality assurance and standards directorate, which he criticised for ineptitude in ensuring supervision of all school programmes went on smoothly.

The CS said the directorate must do more to ensure all government resources are properly utilised.

He also also singled out the procurement department, saying it must ensure value for money on all government projects.

“If we are purchasing chairs, then they must be of the highest quality,” he said.

 Outlining his vision  for the ministry, the CS said a progress report on the implementation of the new curriculum would be issued at the end of first term to inform its rollout into the the next term.

“In the meantime, I wish to assure the country that the implementation of the new curriculum is firmly on track. Any initial challenges will be addressed with precision to ensure that the education we give our children meets global standards,”  he said.

On examinations, the CS promised to step up measures to enhance the integrity of both the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations.

“Our multi-sectoral team has made a stronger resolve to step up the game in the administration of national examinations,” he said. 

The team, he said, would increase surveillance on examination cartels. He promised to introduce new measures in examination administration and address cases of indiscipline in schools. 

Examination registration

On examination registration, the CS said the government has stepped up efforts to provide birth certificates to KCPE and KCSE examination candidates. This, he said, has seen the number of KCPE candidates without birth certificates by  February this year reduce from 375,000 to 158,496.

“We are determined to stamp out cases of irregularities associated with the poor management of our national examinations so that results obtained from the Knec are valid and credible,” he said.

He also promised to fully implement the government’s 100 per cent transition to secondary schools police, which he said currently stands at 95.3 per cent.

He also promised to ensure that the ministry accounts for the 4.7 per cent of the 2018 KCPE candidates yet to join secondary schools.

“The policy of admitting all KCPE candidates to secondary schools is a game changer in this country,” he said. 

The government, he said, was prepared to work round the clock to expand school infrastructure, provide enough textbooks and teachers to support increased enrollment.

Magoha also promised to boost efforts by public schools to acquire title deeds for the land they sit on.