No harm asking head teachers to be accountable

Education Cabinet Secretary Prof Jacob Kaimenyi, this week gazetted new schools’ regulations that have generated more heat than direction in a sector crying out for clear policy guidance.

The new rules seek to make head teachers accountable in the usage of funds under their disposal.

The gazettement has brought out the worst in the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet), rubbing them the wrong way, prompting them to threaten a strike when schools re-open in May unless the Cabinet Secretary revokes the regulations. This, sadly, appears to be the only recourse for the teachers’ unions.

While the teachers’ unions claim the new regulations place head teachers under the direct control of the CS who, under the laws is empowered to hire and fire them, an onus that previously fell under the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), the Cabinet Secretary says this is a misrepresentation of facts. According to Prof Kaimenyi, what the ministry seeks to do is simply make head teachers accountable.

At a time when the fight against corruption and misuse of public funds is on in earnest, why the unions would want to shield teachers from being held to account leaves a lot to be desired?

That there is more to the ruckus being raised by the unions than meets the eye is evident in the fact that while in the new rules there are many other provisions beneficial to our education sector, teacher unions only seem aggrieved by the directive that head teachers account to the CS. In truth, majority of head teachers have not been accountable, and the ministry seeks to remedy this.

The banning of schools ranking and the gazettement of new fees structures in line with the Kilemi Mwiria-report early this year seems to have put the CS on a collision path with the teachers’ unions whose argument over time has been that the minister acts without consulting stakeholders in the education sector.

However, Prof Kaimenyi has remained firm that the ministry consulted widely before gazetting the new fees structure and abolishing ranking. In fact, it later became evident that union leaders gave their views to the Kilemi Mwiria led task force on education hence; their turning around to condemn the minister is dishonest.

Majority of parents support the Cabinet Secretary in his endeavours to streamline an education sector that has over the years spun out of control, leaving head teachers to dictate the pace and terms of everything.

It would be pointless to have a Ministry of Education if the Cabinet Secretary does not have some leverage over those under him. The tone adopted by the officials of teachers union’s at press conferences smacks of arrogance and refusal to be subjected to checks and balances.

It points to a desire to settle personal scores when a representative of Knut goes public to say Prof Kaimenyi should have been sent home for corruption, without giving evidence of the same.

Grandstanding and chest thumping on the part of the unions and the ministry, as is often the case whenever misunderstandings occur, can only lower education standards. Recent research has shown that a Standard Eight pupil cannot do class three sums correctly.

This situation can only be remedied if stringent controls are put in place. Teachers cannot continually take learners hostage by using them as pawns in their wars with the parent ministry. Strikes will never provide an answer to the myriad problems facing the education sector; the only way forward is to embrace dialogue and visionary policies. Both parties must come down from their high perches and agree to round table talks.

Even as teachers accuse Prof Kaimenyi of disregarding laws, they themselves have been known to disregard ministerial directives, the ban on tuition being a good example. Today, most schools are going on with the tuition, having asked parents to pay at least Sh3,000 for the two weeks before schools reopen in May. Head teachers must agree to be accountable.