Administration skills for school heads sorely needed

Education Permanent Secretary James ole Kiyiapi says: "We must shape thinking and engage sufficiently to take the leadership conversation in our country to another level."

Now that is no idle chat, coming from a man of letters and also tasked with one of the most important ministries. Time has shown that formal education is key to unlocking the potential of any other sector, human endeavour or culture.

And the task of imparting this most basic, but fundamental aspiration is the teacher.

Even as central government rolls out policy frameworks to ensure quality of learning is maintained and sufficient facilities are available, donors also chip in to lighten the burden of government.

Teachers then get down to the nitty-gritty of imparting knowledge to their eager charges from nursery school to the hallowed halls of academia in far away universities.

From the teaching fraternity, too, rises a pool of headmasters to head the day-to-day administration of schools.

Big mistake, we say.

They may be very gifted teachers, but a different set of skills is needed to run finances, counselling, public or private school administration, public relations, conferencing and networking.

This is perhaps where Prof Kiyiapi and others draw the line. They say head teachers need new skills to complement those garnered at Teacher Training College and university for greater efficiency and effectiveness.

Current policy

That is why the proposal to introduce a new curriculum to make head teachers proficient in matters outside the classroom, but school administration-related, is very welcome indeed.

In the absence of this, professional managers, accountants, labour officials, marketers and other disciplines need to be recruited to perform these functions.

These proposals should see an overhaul of the current policy and be part of the new Act on education and the new Constitution.