Education must be given most serious attention
From left: Wilson Sossion, secretary-general of the Kenya National Union of Teachers, Lydia Nzomo, chairperson of the Teachers Service Commission and Nancy Macharia, the commission's chief executive officer, at Zayed Hall in Mombasa on August 10, 2016. PHOTO | LABAN WALLOGA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Education is at the end of the day about Kenya's future.
- What disturbs me are ongoing arguments and counter-arguments about role of teachers in forthcoming primary and secondary school examinations.
Not long ago, I argued in this column that some services such as education and health must not be treated casually like we have seen in the devolved setup. These services have some sacredness about them. Education, particularly, must be given the most serious attention by all concerned and not be reduced to a simple battleground on which the various stakeholders flex their muscles.
Education, which is about bringing up a generation, is at the end of the day about the future of this nation. What disturbs me at the moment is the ongoing arguments and counter-arguments about the role of teachers in the forthcoming primary and secondary school examinations.
The Cabinet Secretary for Education did issue a directive that teachers should keep off their schools during the examination period.
Then along came the Teachers Service Commission – the employer of teachers – which directed that all teachers should remain in their schools during the examinations “to carry out other school programmes touching on curriculum implementation”.
What confusion is this for both teachers and their good students and parents?
Fellow Kenyans of whichever persuasion, do we really want to leave this whole matter to those government types and actors, including the unions, that frequently put on the mask of standing up for teachers and students?
PARENTS’ UNION
I am informed that there is even a union for parents. The reason I ask this question is because this is a concern that all of us should regard as a matter of national urgency.
Even before the dust had settled, there came along another directive from the secretary-general of the teachers union that teachers should stay at home. Poor teachers! One wonders which directive they will go by.
There is another matter which I think is not only funny but disastrous for the kind of society Kenya should endeavour to become.
Education officials in Siaya got involved with the local county government and mock examinations ended up becoming the local governor’s deal. His portrait was there on the examination paper. Quite disturbing, isn’t it?
Interviewed on television, a local parent summed it all up this way: “We must not bring politics into education ...” This parent did not look as educated as the Siaya governor or the education administrators in that county. Yet the parent has a better sense of judgement.
Fr Dominic Wamugunda is dean of students, University of Nairobi.
