By John Kariuki
Kenya: If there is one word that can describe the Jubilee government last year, it is fumbling! The cacophony on devolution and the constitutional interpretation of everything provided the perfect alibi for government apparatchiks to bumble at their jobs. And the net effect? Little tangible benefits for the common man. The education sector will suffer the most from this government lethargy.
The VAT Bill will continue to bite and with it comes the stark reality of skyrocketing prices. 2014 will be characterised by runaway school fees for parents especially those with children in secondary school. The Ministry of Education long stopped pretending to cap school fees, creating a veritable field perpetrated by district education boards which raise fees at whim!
Fees guidelines
At least when he was the PS, Prof Karega Mutahi ensured strict adherence to stipulated fees guidelines. But the new men at Jogoo house are, apparently, still on honeymoon eight months after their appointment.
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Meanwhile, crucial areas like quality assurance and guidance and counselling are long dead.
In 2006, the Ministry of Education published and distributed a booklet on career guidance in schools. Eight years on, the book is obsolete and no efforts at equipping teachers with the current and workplace information for them to guide their students accordingly.
Indeed, there are no career guidance desks at Jogoo House and the TSC, yet teachers are expected to nurture generations of pupils marketable worldwide!
Another education killer initiated by government is the ban on night travel by PSVs and school buses. Pupils are bound to be confined to their counties without learning anything beyond their home areas. I envisage a school tour, say, from Nyahururu visiting Parliament, 176km away.
They would get only four hours to follow the parliamentary proceedings if they are to beat the 6pm deadline on the return journey. This effectively puts the national heritage and learning resources in many of our towns out of reach of pupils beyond a radius of 100 km to the towns!
