Five MPs close ranks behind education sector reforms

By VITALIS KIMUTAI

Five MPs are lobbying for support from colleagues to pass the proposed reforms in the education sector.

Eldoret North MP William Ruto led his colleagues in calling all stakeholders to back reforms in the sector.

"We have fundamental challenges, gaps, shortcomings in the education system and we need to adopt one that would produce graduates who would use their knowledge to create wealth instead of seeking for white collar jobs," Ruto said.

Ruto, a former Higher Education minister said that education was the only thing that places the children of the rich and the poor on an equal pedestal.

William Ruto receives donations from the officials of Aden Hersi Educational Trust let by Mandera West MP Hussein Ali (left) and busnessman Adan Mamow (right). More than Sh2.5 million was realised. [PHOTO: MOSES OMUSULA/STANDARD]

"Children of the rich and the poor, black and white, Muslims and Christians are made equal by education. A country that does not educate her citizens is doomed," Ruto said.

Ruto was speaking at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre on Sunday.

Education fund

He he led five MPs – Mohamed Hussein (Mandera East), Cyrus Jirongo (Lugari), Aden Keynan (Wajir West), Aden Duale (Dujis) and Benjamin Langat (Ainamoi) in raising Sh2.7 million for the Adan Hersi Educational Fund, a fund that caters for poor children from Mandera East.

Langat said that Kenyans should not be rigid to change in the sector, as the current system was examination-based.

"We should embrace a system that makes it compulsory for Form Four leavers to enrol in polytechnics to learn various skills for two years before proceeding to university in the same way we used to go to National Youth Service before proceeding to university," he said.

Keynan said that reforms in the education sector should be conducted in a manner that reflected the changing needs in the society and international dynamics.

"An education system that Kenya needs is one that would embrace change in curriculum, content and infrastructure so that it produces graduates who are able to provide solutions to challenges facing the country," said Keynan.

Jirongo said that with relevant training, youths would not need to look for white-collar jobs, adding that the changes to be effected must be in tandem with the aspirations of the country to be industrialised by the year 2030.

Basic technical knowledge

"Kenya is not a poor country and it can easily achieve the status of an industrialised nation if youths are provided with the basic technical knowledge on how to create wealth," he said.

Duale said that for a long time, poor children had been denied quality education because their parents could not afford to take them to academies.

"The free primary education and subsidised secondary education were noble programmes but the shortage of over 70,000 teachers and congestions in institutions has hampered quality in public schools," he said.

A report by a taskforce charged with the responsibility includes recommendations on changing the system to a 2-6-3-3-3 format.

The proposals to overhaul the sector include the strengthening of education governance.

It recommends the creation of a National Education Board to advise Education ministers and county education boards among other bodies involved in the education sector.

Critics of the proposals have stood by the current system insisting it has been recognised worldwide.