Institutionalised mediocrity: Curious case of ‘hero’ Matiang’i and how to fix education

First, I must congratulate Education CS Dr Fred Matiang’i for presiding over national primary and secondary school examinations that seem free of cheating — as has always been the case. Kudos! However, it’s sad that we have institutionalised mediocrity, so much that when someone correctly does something he was hired to do, we heap praises on him.

This reminds me of the desperate Kenyans who are now not asking President Uhuru Kenyatta for development or ending corruption, but begging him to restore the country to the state he found it when he took office! But I digress.

Picture the utter shock on the face of a foreigner after telling him or her, Matiang’i is the best Cabinet Secretary because he over saw a national exams where no case of cheating were reported. The foreigner will wonder, if a whole CS was walking around with a big stick, ensuring no one cheats in exams, then who was in his office handling policy, sector transformation, innovation, modernisation and the likes, like his counterparts in working governments?

But, if you think fixing a leak by delivering credible KCPE exams is “transformative”, “revolutionary”, “historical” and all the other superlatives being bandied around, then you have absolutely no clue of the rot in our education sector.

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Chances are, Prof. Jacob Kaimenyi, Matiang’i’s predecessor, failed miserably, and has now produced a ‘hero’ in the latter. If you ask me, Prof. Kaimenyi is the quintessential Jubilee technocrat: Long on talk and short on action/delivery. Guys who incubate a mess by setting the standards so low, that they make heroes out of their successors! But, anyway, in a theft-ridden government where everyone, including the President, is under-performing, Matiang’i is, indeed, a ‘hero’.

The brouhaha about Matiang’i only shows a country in desperate need of a hero. So, Matiang’i, Kenyans have massaged your ego and made you feel like a hero for doing your job? Well, I am sorry to burst your bubble, sir. Honestly, I don’t mean to rain on your parade, but I am really struggling to know exactly why you are getting all the plaudits. Look, exams were never supposed to leak in the first place. It is just the normal, the barest minimum we would expect of a Knec C.E.O, and not even of the CS. Leaked exams demonstrates mediocrity, unprofessionalism, laziness, utter dereliction of duty, dysfunctional systems and institutions and a sick civil service.

how to fix education sector

Before we canonize Dr. Matiang’i on Mashujaa day as a hero and pop the champagne, let him go beyond fixing leaks in Knec and fix the whole education system on matters quality, financing and management.

Let him ensure at least 90% or so transition from primary to secondary school. It will delight some of us if he reforms the Ministry by ridding it of the ‘dinosaurs’ and got in fresh, smart and futuristic technocrats to help him formulate policy.

Meanwhile, what is he doing about those schools that have several exam centers to manipulate their performance? Remember he called them “frauds”! Why isn’t he ensuring the prosecution and conviction of heads who are flouting the government fees structures and fleecing parents? Yet they are known and will be at it next month. Let him stop the corruption that will see the average performing children of the rich gain entry into national schools at the expense of the poor.

How about shutting down fake colleges — they are known — fleecing parents and giving crappy certification to unsuspecting young Kenyans. What of dissolving and reconstituting all University Councils in, particularly all public, universities where tribalism, nepotism and “mtu wetu” has become the order of the day?

He should shut down village Universities that have been set up to appease politicians and tribal interests, giving crappy degrees to unsuspecting locals. Or force the politicians to take their children there.

He will come off as “revolutionary” if he revives and makes robust the research function of Universities, currently non-existent in Universities producing useless PhD’s by the 100’s every year. “Transformational” will be used to describe him if he ensures universities give employers job-ready graduates through Competency Based Training and not zombies who have spent all their lives ‘passing’ examinations and learning nothing.

We will clap for him if he stops the extortion schemes in Universities where politicians with no passion for knowledge buy degrees, including PhD’s! How about establishing at least one internationally recognizable center of academic, research & innovation excellence out of the myriads of delusional wannabe public and private Universities calling themselves “centers of excellence” and “World Class”?

He will be a true hero if he ring-fenced the Ministry, education policy institutions, schools and colleges from politicians and politicisation. Why can’t the CS establish a centralized national bursarys’ allocation scheme that ensures that needy children get financial assistance throughout their school life without having to run after corrupt politicians and their minders after every election cycle?
Let him stop the theft of public money through cartels in all educational institutions including theft of FPE money and looting of Universities by tribal cartels claiming “hii ni yetu”.

Let him re-engineer pedagogical practice in Kenya by demanding a review of all teacher training curriculum in the country and modern pedagogical skills retraining for all teachers. Boss, modernize pedagogy at all levels of education and give us an education structure responsive to 21st Century needs and opportunities.

Why not establish a world class – truly world class – center for the gifted and talented where we ensure that the most talented kids reach their fullest potential and contribute in innovation and transformation? I can go on and on, but I rest my case for now. Over to you sir.