The Presidential Working Party’s report on reforms in the education sector has been rejected by the Council of Governors (CoG).
CoG chair Ann Waiguru stated in a statement on Friday that the Council acknowledges education’s significance as a major factor in socioeconomic development.
She continued by saying that the Council supports initiatives meant to enhance the educational system.
“We wish to acknowledge the tremendous efforts by Counties in transforming the devolved education functions assigned to them by the Constitution,” she said.
“Having gone through the full report, its recommendations and the negative impact it possesses on Devolution, we reject the recommendations by the working party on Education as they undermine the basic structure and framework of the management of Education by the Counties.”
She urged the Kenya National Union of Teachers to uphold the letter and spirit of the Constitution and to avoid impeding the work that county governments are doing in the field of education.
The report of the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms was presented to the President in August 2023.
Ruto gave the Ministry of Education instructions to carry out the reforms in education within the allotted time frame.
Among the suggestions made by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) was the reduction of learning areas in Lower Primary from 9 to 7, Upper Primary from 12 to 8, Junior Schools from 14 to 9, Pre-Primary from 5 to 7, and Senior Schools from 7 to 9.
The committee proposed raising the school capitation by Sh1,170 for pre-primary education, double the amount for primary education to Sh2,238, for junior schools to Sh15,043 and for senior schools (day) to Sh22,527.
Others were Sh19,800 for SNE (Day) at Special Needs Institutions and Sh38,280 for SNE (Boarding).
Every three years, they suggested, the capitation and grants be reevaluated.
But in the meanwhile, while awaiting Parliamentary approval, Ezekiel Machogu, the cabinet secretary for education, has suspended the presidential working group’s implementation.
According to Machogu, Parliament must now approve the implementation.
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