FW: [dap-kenya] Education at the Crossroads?
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rosaline muraya
May 13, 2013, 2:49:43 AM5/13/13
to inclusive-educati...@googlegroups.com, Jitolee Programme Team
FYI A good read....
Rosa
-----Original Message-----
From: cwa...@gmail.com [mailto:cwa...@gmail.com]
Sent: 10 May 2013 11:42
To: Drivers of Accountability Programme Kenya: Community of Practice (DapCOP)
Subject: [dap-kenya] Education at the Crossroads?
Education at crossroads?
Elias Wakhisi and Pascaline Mulwa, Programme Officers at The Institute for Social Accountability (TISA) write about the challenges facing the Education Sector as the country moves into devolution.
Provision of education and training is fundamental to the economic and social development of any country. Universal Primary Education is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals, to which Kenya has committed itself.
Kenya’s Vision 2030 identifies life-long training and education as critical elements in the creation of a globally competitive and adaptive human resource base. Furthermore, education is recognized by the Constitution of Kenya as a key economic and social right.
As Kenya transits to the devolved system of government, the education sector should be handled with caution and proper planning in order to achieve the country’s ambitions. The fourth schedule of the constitution delineates the functions of both the national and county governments. Functions such as education policy, standards, curricula, examinations and the granting of university charters, universities, tertiary educational institutions, other institutions of research and higher learning, primary schools, special education, secondary schools and sports education remain at the national level. The Constitution limits county responsibilities in the education sector to pre-primary education (often referred to as Early Childhood Development Education), village polytechnics, home craft centres and childcare facilities. The Transition Authority (TA) gazetted the initial functions to be transferred immediately after the March 4 elections as pre-primary education, home-craft centres and childcare facilities.
The Authority has further gazetted village polytechnics as a function ready to be transferred by 1st of July 2013. This notwithstanding, there is still confusion on the roles of the two levels of government in education. For example, since counties control Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE), one might think that they also control the staffing and the curricula for this level of education. Yet, this is not clear. The Constitution gives general curriculum development to the national level, but it is silent on the matter of staffing. Will the Teachers Service Commission, which is charged with staffing other levels of education, also provide teachers for ECDE facilities and set their salaries? How will this be coordinated with the country to avoid situations where counties set up facilities without accessing teachers?
Another concern is that the development budget for ECDE facilities has not been devolved to counties. How can counties manage ECDE if they do not control all of the financing? This raises issues of both coordination and sustainability. There is a need for clarity about the county role in financing ECDE to avoid situations where the little money available is used inappropriately. Recently in Kilifi County, there was uproar from residents after the County Government proposed a budget of Ksh 20 million to purchase (four) vehicles for the early childhood promotion programs at a cost of Ksh 5 million each! This implied that little attention would be paid to ECDE infrastructural development.
The Basic Education Act, 2013 introduces a National Education Board and series of County Education Boards as its agents at devolved level. Surprisingly though, the County Education Boards are given oversight for pre-primary education and youth polytechnics, which are clearly county roles under the Constitution. This gives the impression that national government might usurp the responsibility of counties.
There are also concerns on the mushrooming of non-formal schools (NFSs) in recent years. Regulating this sector is not a function described in the Constitution. Studies have shown that there are a high number of unregistered Non Formal Education (NFE) schools, especially in urban areas. Is this area likely to fall between the cracks of national and county government?
Vocational education is another area of potential confusion. Currently, the country has new legislation for technical and vocational education institutions (TIVET Act, 2013), but this makes no mention of how national institutions in this category will be coordinated with the roles of similar institutions (village polytechnics or homecraft centres) that will be managed by counties.
These are only some of the issues in the sector that must be addressed during the transition. Sector players should concertedly address education infrastructure at all levels even as we prepare to receive the free laptops for every class one going pupil!
__________
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Rosa
-----Original Message-----
From: cwa...@gmail.com [mailto:cwa...@gmail.com]
Sent: 10 May 2013 11:42
To: Drivers of Accountability Programme Kenya: Community of Practice (DapCOP)
Subject: [dap-kenya] Education at the Crossroads?
Education at crossroads?
Elias Wakhisi and Pascaline Mulwa, Programme Officers at The Institute for Social Accountability (TISA) write about the challenges facing the Education Sector as the country moves into devolution.
Provision of education and training is fundamental to the economic and social development of any country. Universal Primary Education is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals, to which Kenya has committed itself.
Kenya’s Vision 2030 identifies life-long training and education as critical elements in the creation of a globally competitive and adaptive human resource base. Furthermore, education is recognized by the Constitution of Kenya as a key economic and social right.
As Kenya transits to the devolved system of government, the education sector should be handled with caution and proper planning in order to achieve the country’s ambitions. The fourth schedule of the constitution delineates the functions of both the national and county governments. Functions such as education policy, standards, curricula, examinations and the granting of university charters, universities, tertiary educational institutions, other institutions of research and higher learning, primary schools, special education, secondary schools and sports education remain at the national level. The Constitution limits county responsibilities in the education sector to pre-primary education (often referred to as Early Childhood Development Education), village polytechnics, home craft centres and childcare facilities. The Transition Authority (TA) gazetted the initial functions to be transferred immediately after the March 4 elections as pre-primary education, home-craft centres and childcare facilities.
The Authority has further gazetted village polytechnics as a function ready to be transferred by 1st of July 2013. This notwithstanding, there is still confusion on the roles of the two levels of government in education. For example, since counties control Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE), one might think that they also control the staffing and the curricula for this level of education. Yet, this is not clear. The Constitution gives general curriculum development to the national level, but it is silent on the matter of staffing. Will the Teachers Service Commission, which is charged with staffing other levels of education, also provide teachers for ECDE facilities and set their salaries? How will this be coordinated with the country to avoid situations where counties set up facilities without accessing teachers?
Another concern is that the development budget for ECDE facilities has not been devolved to counties. How can counties manage ECDE if they do not control all of the financing? This raises issues of both coordination and sustainability. There is a need for clarity about the county role in financing ECDE to avoid situations where the little money available is used inappropriately. Recently in Kilifi County, there was uproar from residents after the County Government proposed a budget of Ksh 20 million to purchase (four) vehicles for the early childhood promotion programs at a cost of Ksh 5 million each! This implied that little attention would be paid to ECDE infrastructural development.
The Basic Education Act, 2013 introduces a National Education Board and series of County Education Boards as its agents at devolved level. Surprisingly though, the County Education Boards are given oversight for pre-primary education and youth polytechnics, which are clearly county roles under the Constitution. This gives the impression that national government might usurp the responsibility of counties.
There are also concerns on the mushrooming of non-formal schools (NFSs) in recent years. Regulating this sector is not a function described in the Constitution. Studies have shown that there are a high number of unregistered Non Formal Education (NFE) schools, especially in urban areas. Is this area likely to fall between the cracks of national and county government?
Vocational education is another area of potential confusion. Currently, the country has new legislation for technical and vocational education institutions (TIVET Act, 2013), but this makes no mention of how national institutions in this category will be coordinated with the roles of similar institutions (village polytechnics or homecraft centres) that will be managed by counties.
These are only some of the issues in the sector that must be addressed during the transition. Sector players should concertedly address education infrastructure at all levels even as we prepare to receive the free laptops for every class one going pupil!
__________
You are receiving this message because you're a member of the community Drivers of Accountability Programme Kenya: Community of Practice (DapCOP).
A reply to this message will be sent to all members of Drivers of Accountability Programme Kenya: Community of Practice (DapCOP).
To reply to sender, send a message to cwa...@gmail.com.
To unsubscribe, send an email to leave.D...@partnerplatform.org
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