School heads demand scrapping of quota system
Secondary school heads meeting in Mombasa on Wednesday demanded the scrapping of the quota system of education and the classification of schools at the district level. They said the policy has had negative impacts in the minds of growing children.
The national chairman of the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association, Mr Cleophas Tirop, said a child born, bred and educated in local schools and post-primary institutions was unlikely to experience the riches of socio-cultural diversity.
Day schools
“Education must enable students to interact with each other and learn to tolerate and appreciate the differences in their cultures.
“We recommend the setting up of more national schools and that provincial schools admit half their students from outside the province. “In place of district schools, we recommend that we have day schools,” Mr Tirop said.
Speaking during the third day of the association’s annual conference at the Wild Waters Centre in Mombasa, the chairman said the district schools had been affected by the creation of more districts, turning them into locational institutions.
He said there was urgent need for a flexible curriculum to accommodate the various abilities of learners and allow for skill and talent development.
“Currently, all secondary schools only have one focus of preparing students for university. Time has come for Kenyans to identify the place of talent and skill development in our education system.”
Mr Tirop said the association had made proposals for the establishment of sports academies in every constituency to cater for various talents in the country and the setting up of technical schools for skills development.
He called on the Ministry of education to enhance capacity development of school leaders through scheduled training and making funds available to strengthen the Kenya Education Staff Institute .
Mr Tirop said the increasing number of young people who ended up without employment posed a major threat to security.
The theme of this year’s conference is Redefining Education, with the headteachers seeking an education system that placed more emphasis on development of learners’ full potential as opposed to rewarding achievement of quality grades.
On free education, Mr Tirop decried the erratic disbursement of funds which affected planning and delivery of the curriculum.
The association has recommended that disbursements be done at regular intervals at the beginning of every term to ensure smooth running of school activities.
