Education CS Fred Matiang’i (centre) chats with MP and Kenya National
Union of Teachers chief Wilson Sossion and PS Coletta Suda during the
launch of Form One selection in Nairobi, on December 4, 2017. PHOTO |
DENNIS ONSONGO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
The government will hire 50,000 teachers in the next four years
to plug a shortage in secondary schools in view of the expected massive
student intake from next month, when the free day learning programme
will be rolled out.
Education Cabinet Secretary Fred
Matiang’i said the government will review its budget for education to
have more funds devoted to the employment of more teachers, especially
in secondary schools.
“We are going to singularly focus
on the teacher-student ratio, especially for secondary education,” Dr
Matiang’i told principals of national schools and education officers at
the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) in Nairobi when he
launched the Form One selection.
He added: “We are also
exploring new ways of supporting principals and school boards so that
they can acquire more teachers. We will seek your suggestions on
whatever proposals we come up with.”
The government has
been under pressure to recruit more teachers before rolling out the
free day secondary education to safeguard quality of learning.
SHORTAGE
Government statistics show a shortage of about 50,000 teachers in secondary schools, which currently have about 88,000.
The
Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has asked for 12,696 teachers to be
recruited annually for the next four years in addition to the 5,000 it
hires every year. It estimates that the recruitment will cost the
government Sh8.3 billion annually, with the total cost coming to Sh33.2
billion over the four years.
Next year’s funds are likely to be included in the supplementary budget, which will be tabled in Parliament early in the year.
Dr
Matiang’i said the majority of the new teachers will be posted to
county schools, which will enrol about 63 per cent of all candidates who
sat the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam this year.
The schools will also be given funds to upgrade their infrastructure.
TEXTBOOKS
He
also announced that the Ministry of Education will from January 4
distribute standardised textbooks to all secondary schools. On
admission, every Form One student will get six textbooks — one each for
mathematics, Kiswahili, English, chemistry, physics and biology. The
books will bear the Court of Arms on the cover.
Schools
will, therefore, not be eligible to receive funds for books as the free
secondary education programme is rolled out, said Dr Matiang’i.
The
new distribution policy is likely to be met with opposition from book
publishers, who say the directive is meant to drive them out of
business.
Dr
Matiang’i said they have reviewed the collection of books in the Orange
Book — the list of books approved for use in secondary schools — and
identified the core ones in each of the six critical subjects.
The list, last revised in 2003, contains six different copies for each of the subjects.
“About
seven publishers, including private ones, some of whose textbooks were
chosen, will provide the textbooks,” said Dr Matiang’i. “The books have
been selected through a legal process.
SH3,000 FOR BOOKS
He added: “Principals and headteachers should not ask any Form One to bring any textbook to school.”
The
CS accused heads of county and sub-county schools of abusing the
purchase of textbooks. The government provides each public secondary
school student with Sh3,000 for books and other education materials
annually.
A
report released by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC)
last year on the disbursement and utilisation of Free Primary Education
Funds blamed headteachers, school management committees and suppliers
for the failure to achieve the 1:1 book-to-pupil ratio, which currently
stands at 1:5 in primary schools.
The government says it has lost about Sh18 billion between 2013 and 2016 to graft related to books purchase.
“A
child in Sigalame Secondary school will now have the same book as the
child in Alliance or Mang’u High at the same time. We will push this
policy forward and we will not backtrack on it,” the minister said.
PRIVATE SCHOOLS
The
government has increased Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE) capitation
to cater for the total cost of day schooling to Sh22,244 per student
per year from the previous Sh12,870.
The
government will also meet the cost of national examinations for all
candidates in public and private schools and enforce the fees
guidelines.
Dr Matiang’i said the TSC
will soon release guidelines on new administrative structures in
schools that will be based on enrolment.
“As
you get a higher enrolment, TSC will make sure our headteachers are not
burdened and therefore, the need for a new administrative structure,”
he said and announced that management boards of schools sharing the same
compounds will be dissolved and a new one created to run both
institutions.
Turf wars
Such schools will now be run by an overall principal with a deputy for primary and another for secondary school.
“Performance
in a number of schools that have both primary and secondary schools in
the same environment have often been beset with legitimacy squabbles and
turf wars which tend to compromise teaching and learning programmes. We
intend to get rid of that by creating harmony and synergy in the
utilisation of resources and infrastructure facilities, some of which
lie defunct because resources are duplicated,” he said.
The
Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) secretary-general Wilson
Sossion said they would review the decision to dissolve the boards and
issue a comprehensive statement.
TABLING REPORT
Further
consultations will be made between other stakeholders including the
Kenya Primary School Heads Association and Kenya Secondary School Heads
Association (Kessha)
“We would like
to know how that decision was made and I will be tabling a report before
my union’s leadership and thereafter comment on it. It will be
premature to comment at the moment,” Mr Sossion said.
Kessha
chairman Indimuli Kahi supported the directive saying it is important
that education institutions in the same compound be managed by a single
team. He said such institutions often disagreed on whether or not to put
up additional infrastructure on shared land since both boards claim
ownership of such assets.
“It is
pointless to have different boards giving different directives. We are
in full support of the directive by the CS,” Mr Indimuli said.
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