Delay of report on education reforms worries stakeholders

Harold Ayodo

Delay in releasing a report detailing how to streamline the education sector in line with the Constitution is raising concerns among stakeholders.

Nearly a year after it was constituted, the taskforce on Realignment on Education is yet to make its findings public, despite the expiry of its term.

The Taskforce was tasked to analyse implementation of the new Constitution on education, training and research towards national development. Other roles were to review the education system in relation to relevance and responsiveness to Vision 2030, access, equity, quality and transition.

It was also to look into structures of education system from kindergarten to university – including tertiary, research and special needs institutions.

Other institutions are research, adult education, village polytechnics, home-craft centres and child care facilities. Currently, there are however increasing concerns that operations of the taskforce remain shrouded in secrecy.

For instance, Education Minister Prof Sam Ongeri inaugurated the 31-member team on February 2 to present a final report within six months, but the period expired without the taskforce presenting any report and it be allocated more time.

The taskforce’s chairman Douglas Odhiambo earlier told The Standard on Saturday he was not in a position to discuss their progress extensively.

"We (taskforce) are still at work and cannot comprehensively expound on the matter before conclusion of the final report," Prof Odhiambo said.

Mid this year, Education Minister Sam Ongeri said the report would be made public ahead of a national convention in October. But up to date, Education PS James Ole Kiyiapi said Prof Ongeri is yet to receive a final report from the taskforce.

"The report will be made public once released. We shall implement it in a structured manner and all recommendations will be considered," Prof Kiyiapi said. Even as the Ministry of Education assures of an imminent release of the much-awaited report, stakeholders in the sector say time is running out.

Odindo Opiata, the executive director, Hakijamii, Economic and Social Rights Centre, says the ministry is slow when it comes to reforms in education.

"The Ministry of Education is behaving like education is just another inconsequential issue in the development agenda," Opiata says.

According to Opiata, the task force has been working in what he terms secrecy. He says the process seems to have been held hostage by a group of bureaucrats supported by self appointed experts masquerading as consultants.

According to Opiata, the year-long process is against the constitutional requirement that laws need to be harmonised for smooth implementation. "What is happening is very unfortunate. Education is a fundamental right that should not be ignored," Opiata says.

He points out that the silence of key stakeholders in the education sector is even more worrisome.

"We need clear and immediate answers from the Ministry of Education on what is going on," Opiata says. Recently, Parliamentary Committee on Education chairman David Koech told a seminar attended by scholars in Nairobi that the education sub sector needs urgent reforms.

Mr Koech singled out the Education Act, which he said does not provide for early childhood education as detailed in the Constitution. "It has weak structures on quality assurance and free primary education, which was introduced in 2003," Koech says. According to Koech, the Education Act should be revamped to institutionalise a national standards and quality assurance body.

Separately, the Teachers Service Commission Act combines functions of registration and management of teachers in contravention with Government policy.

"It does not prescribe the qualifications, experience and integrity for appointment of the chairman, commissioners and secretary of the body," Koech says.

The Kenya National Examinations Council Act, which was enacted in 1980, does not assess learning and training competencies in education and training.

"There is no accreditation and approval of providers of examinations and certification in the Education Act," he said. Scholars say the Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) Act does not extend financial assistance to students undertaking technical subjects in tertiary institutions.

"The Helb Act should be mandated to diversify sourcing of funds in order to widen the base of the fund and accommodate more students," Koech says.

Koech has expressed his sentiments in a paper titled Legal Framework on Management of Education and the Way Forward. Furthermore, the Universities Act is silent on inter-university and credit transfers unlike most established universities globally.

The statute has no qualifications for appointment of persons to university management bodies such as Senate and councils. It also lacks provisions limiting the periods taken to deal with disciplinary cases of students.

The Children’s Act makes education a basic right but does not spell out roles of parents and guardians in provision of education to their children.