Clerics fault Education Ministry move of mass transfer of school heads

Acting Eldoret Catholic Diocese Bishop Maurice Crowley

The Ministry of Education has been criticized for bypassing the church in key decision making processes concerning the sector, a move that is touted to negatively affect performance.

Acting Eldoret Catholic Diocese Bishop Maurice Crowley said churches are key stakeholders in the education sector and should be consulted prior to implementation of new policies if prosperity is to be attained.

Crowley who doubles up as Kitale Catholic Diocese Bishop strongly criticized the move by Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i to oversee transfer of over 500 head teachers and their deputies on short notice.

“I am disappointed by Education Ministry’s move to transfer teachers on grounds of Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) results. The move was done without the consultation of the church, a major contributor in education development,” said Crowley.

He said the transfers will not only destabilize the management of schools and performance of students but will bring rifts between key stakeholders in the education sector.

"The transfers will affect the schools, teachers and parents negatively because there was no consultation. It shows it was not done in good faith and needs to be revisited," added Crowley.

Kimilili MP Didymus Barasa echoed Crowley's sentiments and labeled the recently released KCSE results a sham, saying it was unacceptable to have 437,000 students scoring below D (plus) grade.

“The CS has politicized examinations, KCSE marking and grading was not moderated and unfairly subjected numerous students to failure. There was no transparency across the examiners in how the results were arrived at, the process needs to be redone,” said Barasa.

Barasa who further accused Matiang’i for overseeing the mass transfer of head teachers said he will move an adjournment motion to probe the conduct of the CS.

"My electorates are not impressed with Matiangi's transfers and this may stall development of the education sector. The transfers have been done on a basis of favourism and nepotism and I will push a motion to probe his conduct when parliament resumes,” Barasa said.

He further accused the education CS of using his office to develop his political ambition through discriminating against counties away from his home in distribution of equalization funds in the education sector.