23 June 2008
editorial
Nairobi — The annual secondary school headteachers conference that opens in Mombasa on Monday could not have come at a more appropriate time.
Secondary education is going through one of its worst moments, but for whatever reason, there is little discussion about that.
It is as if the headteachers have been so subjugated that they cannot speak out or they have joined the Government in the game of silence, yet things are moving from bad to worse.
Of concern is the bungled subsidised secondary education, whose impact on quality will take a long time to be realised. For all intents and purposes, this is one policy that has come a cropper from the outset.
Parents were made to believe last year that once the policy was introduced this year, they would get relief in terms of fees they pay to schools. The reality, however, is that the Government has only given out Sh3,600 for every student since January, which is not only too little but too late.
As the Government publicised the free tuition policy, it placed a cap on school levies as it promised top-ups. To date, schools are facing serious financial problems, which students and parents do not want to hear about.
Not surprisingly, we have seen a wave of student unrest in recent weeks. Of course, student unrest is a perennial problem, but there is no denying that the cash crisis in schools has compounded the problem.
Another pertinent issue that remains unresolved is the mess in last year's Form Four examinations. Some 40,000 candidates had their marks changed in what Education minister Sam Ongeri and his bureaucrats wanted Kenyans to believe was a computer glitch.
For good measure, the minister set up a task force to audit the exam fiasco and advise him. It is June and nothing has been heard about that task force. Come October, our children will be sitting exams.
When will the debacle be solved?
Add these to the acute teacher shortage, dispute over performance contracts, as well as rising food and fuel prices and we see schools facing real hard times.
The Mombasa conference must tackle these issues and provide well-thought out suggestions that the Government can adopt.
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