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Prof George Magoha has finally taken charge at the Education ministry at a time the sector is grappling with serious challenges.
The new Cabinet Secretary has no time for a honeymoon; he has to get down to work and get things running.
Policy lapses, administrative weaknesses and financial deficits have combined to undermine the country’s education system, which is the reason strong leadership is paramount.
The immediate challenge is to stabilise secondary education that is groaning under the weight of huge Form One enrolment, inadequate funding, scarce infrastructural resources and staff shortage.
President Uhuru Kenyatta made this explicit to the new minister, charging him to resolve the crisis caused by the admission under the government’s 100 per cent transition policy.
We have reported several times since January that the policy was hurriedly implemented without creating the right environment.
Given limited financing, public secondary schools are congested, facilities stretched to the limit and learning compromised as the few teachers are overwhelmed.
Unless checked, the crisis in secondary schools will explode into chaos. But that is part of the problem; the full import of the crisis will be realised many years later, long after the students have graduated from high school.
Tied to this, Prof Magoha must review the fees policy with a view to instituting changes that truly reflect the reality in schools.
Secondly, he must commission a thorough assessment of the implementation of the new education system, better known as the competency-based curriculum, and give fresh direction.
Evidence on the ground indicates that the programme is being badly executed. Teachers have not been properly trained, teaching and learning resources are not available and supervision is defective.
Experts acknowledge that the philosophy of the new curriculum is solid, but it is not easy to implement.
Huge cash outlay, proper teacher preparation and adequate facilities are required for the rollout. In the absence of this, it is headed for failure.
Unfortunately, whereas it was believed that the country had learnt from the debacle that attended to the implementation of the current 8-4-4 system and is, therefore, better placed to avoid blunders, same mistakes are being repeated.
We cannot afford that, and it is incumbent on Prof Magoha to commission a thorough review and advise the government correctly and in good time.
Thirdly, Prof Magoha must deal with the biting teacher shortage, which hampers provision of quality education.
Given his background, he must sustain the onslaught on examination cheating and redeem the country’s image.
He must also address challenges facing universities — ranging from poor funding, staff shortage, lack of facilities and quality of degree programmes.
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