Kisumu, Kenya: Kenya Union of Post Primary Education (KUPPET) has warned Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) against including devolution of education in the referendum.
The teachers' organisation warned that the referendum will fail miserably if devolving education will be included in the referendum questions.
Kisumu County KUPPET chairman Zablon Awange said teachers will vote against the referendum if CORD persists with their push to devolve education.
Awange said the same vigour teachers used to defeat the Wako Draft in 2005 that attempted to devolve education will be employed in the CORD referendum.
Awange accused local leaders of not supporting education in the region by failing to attend educational days or even motivating teachers to up their performance.
Awange said CORD is the last organ to call for education devolution since they have done little to uplift education standards in their regions.
He vowed that teachers will defend their right to remain in the national government, adding that the chaos being witnessed in the health sector is a clear testimony that the county governments are not prepared to handle education.
He stressed that devolving education will jeopardise free primary and secondary programmes since the national government might choose to pull out from the arrangement.
Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga was quoted over the weekend calling for the transfer of education functions from the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to the county governments.
His call has been supported by Siaya Governor Cornel Rasanga who argued that counties have the capacity to run education sector much better than the national government.
Meanwhile, Nyanza parents have challenged the Government to take action against teachers and principals who are offering holiday tuition.
Nyanza Parents Association chairman Jackson Ogweno said Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi should direct his officers on the ground to take action against such teachers.
Ogweno said many government officials are failing the government because they have good policies but nobody is always there to implement them.
"Policies on education matters should be implemented to the latter to avoid such cases where directives are given and are not followed," said Ogweno.
Speaking to the Standard on phone, Ogweno said students should be resting during the holidays as continuous teaching will destroy the thinking capability of the students.
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He said students are able to get moral teachings and guidelines from their parents during the holiday period.
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