Education CS Julius Ogamba [L] at Sheikh Zayed Hall
in Mombasa on Wednesday / BRIAN OTIENO
Education CS Julius Ogamba on Wednesday said solutions to
the problems in the education sector will only be found when all stakeholders
work together.
Speaking at the 48th Kenya Secondary School Heads Association annual conference in Mombasa, Ogamba said government is keen to improve the education standards in the country to produce world beaters.
“You have raised legitimate issues and to the right authorities. We are in this thing together and we will get the solutions together,” Ogamba told the secondary school heads.
He said the government has already employed 76,000 teachers in two years and giving provisions to employ another 24,000.
“In the manifesto of Kenya Kwanza, the promise was to employ 116,000 teachers by the next elections. When we do another 24,000, we’ll have done 100,000, then the following year we do the balance that we promised,” the CS said.
He said an ongoing government analysis indicates that qualified teachers with Teachers Service Commission numbers but are unemployed anywhere range between 62,000 and 65,000.
This means, he noted, if the government strategically organises itself, then in two or three years every qualified teacher in the country will be in employment.
“That is only possible because we are working with technology to ensure we know where every one of us is so that we can come up with policies to ensure we cover that,” Ogamba said at the Sheikh Zayed Hall in Mombasa.
He said government calculations indicate that Kenya requires 35,000 teachers every year.
This, he said, helps teachers guide learners to take education courses after secondary school.
“So that we don’t take 100,000 students a year to do education when we require 35,000 because when the 100,000 come out, it means 65,000 of them will not have place to go,” the CS said.
He noted this is where the Kenya Education Management Information System (Kemis), which replaces the National Education Management Information System becomes critical.
He said the government will use Kemis to know exactly what is needed where, which will help in the development of policies.
“It is unacceptable that we have students in schools but because they don’t have a birth certificate they are not captured in our system and therefore they don’t get capitation,” Ogamba said.
Kessha chair Willy Kuria called on the ministry to sort the issue out saying lack of capitation for such students means the schools they are in suffer due to inadequate funds.
He echoed CS Ogamba’s sentiments that in such cases, the capitation of Sh22,244 per student has then to be spread to other students who missed out, to accommodate them in school.
“And in fact, the capitation is not usually that Sh22,244 that we are supposed to get. It is actually about Sh17,000 because not all of it is usually sent to us,” Kuria said.
Ogamba said it is critical that government has the correct data to avoid such situations, a matter he said the new Kemis will solve.
The CS said the e-procurement that government is pushing will ensure a lot of funds are saved because every procurement undertaken by government will be seen by the principals.
“If we are able to bring hygiene in the sector, we will get the resources required to meet the obligations that are provided for in the constitution for our children,” Ogamba said.
The CS said the education sector, just like in the finance sector, does not like noise, calling for amicable solution to issues that affect the sector instead of rowdy behaviour.
