Pupils head back to school amid several challenges in sector

Students head to their various schools during an opening day on May 5, 2015. The opening of schools on January 4, 2016 comes days after publishers announced a 15 per cent hike in the cost of textbooks, further increasing the burden on parents as their children go to school this term. PHOTO | SULEIMAN MBATIAH | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

In Summary

• The sector may also see far-reaching changes after the ministry started the review of the 8-4-4 education system that could see it scrapped or altered.
• TSC has also withheld union dues and asked teachers to confirm their unions, starving the giant labour organisations of funding and further aggravating the duel.
• About 20 per cent of Kenyan children are in private schools, meaning the rising inflation and cost of textbooks will hit harder several families.

By PATRICK LANGAT
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At least 14 million children troop back to schools Monday for the first term against a backdrop of numerous challenges in the education sector.

Concerns over fees hike, uncertainty about a planned teachers’ strike, a rise in cost of textbooks and other stationery, the delayed release of free education funds and a scramble for Standard One places await parents as most embark on a last-minute rush to shop.

The sector may also see far-reaching changes after the ministry started the review of the 8-4-4 education system that could see it scrapped or altered.

About 20 per cent of Kenyan children are in private schools, meaning the rising inflation and cost of textbooks will hit harder several families.

A possible tutors’ strike will further drive the crucial sector into a deeper crisis as learning stalled last year for five weeks as teachers agitated for increased pay.

In June, the Employment and Labour Relations Court judge Nduma Nderi offered the tutors a 50-60 per cent pay rise, but it was thrown out by the Court of Appeal.

A negotiation ordered by President Uhuru Kenyatta between the teachers’ union and the teachers’ employer has run into headwinds after teachers went to court.

On December 19, the giant Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) filed a case at the Supreme Court in what the secretary general Wilson Sossion termed a “cautionary measure” in case Teachers Service Commission (TSC) continues delaying the CBA.

TSC has also withheld union dues and asked teachers to confirm their unions, starving the giant labour organisations of funding and further aggravating the duel.

Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Mating’i did not mince his words on what needs to be done, signalling the government’s firm stand on the issue.

RESOLVE ISSUE
Former Education Principal Secretary James ole Kiyiapi said that a new approach must be taken to deal with the TSC-teachers’ unions problems.

“These strikes are not usually out of the blue, we hear them coming for so long. We have dragged it for far too long. Unless we face our challenges, they never really disappear however much we would wish,” said Prof Kiyiapi.

The teachers’ strike also begot another problem: three-month 70,000 contracted teachers who TSC brought in on September 30 to address the gap during the work boycott.

“Those people were paid by the boards. When they were put on contract, payment stops. Now, it’s three months of work and they have not been paid,” said Mr John Awiti, the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association chair.

On Monday, thousands of successful nursery school children will be joining Standard One, another looming headache for parents.

Though the government has announced that there will be no interviews for those joining Standard One, experts have warned that the decision will occasion a scramble for the few and competitive spaces.

The opening of schools also comes days after publishers announced a 15 per cent hike in the cost of textbooks, further increasing the burden on parents as their children go to school this term.

The Kenya Booksellers and Stationery Association has blamed the increase on the rising inflation, the depreciating value of the shilling and the increased cost of production and importation of ink and other products.

HIGH COSTS
Association's chairman Arthur Kamau said that the increase will take place before the reopening this January.

“The 16 per cent tax on text books made prices shoot up. We expect prices to increase between 10 to 15 per cent,” said Mr Kamau.

Private schools will have to fork out more because unlike their counterparts in public schools, the expenses are entirely placed on the parents.

Last year, secondary schools had not received the funds when the Form Four candidates sat the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) and the practical examinations were under threat.

“These funds should be disbursed during holidays so that each time we open the schools, we have the money and we do not suffer,” said Mr Awiti, the St Mary’s Yala School principal.

Mr Awiti’s primary schools counterpart Shem Ndolo said that though their schools were not so much affected with the funds as the secondary schools, their timely release will help.