Bringing schools under ministry will improve quality of education

If the quote, “the size and efficiency of an organisation are inversely proportional magnitudes”, holds true, it stands to reason that the education sector in Kenya can never be efficient, yet it is the most over-managed in the country.

We have the Ministry of Education, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), the inspectorate, boards of governors, sponsors, and parents/teachers associations (PTA). The effect has been to create stifling inefficiency and corruption, translating into high cost of running schools and, of course, poor quality education. 

The centrepiece of this network of corruption and inefficiency is Prof Kaimenyi’s main target — the school principal. He or she has to curry favour with all these bodies.  This requires huge amounts of money, generated through charging for extra tuition, inflated school fees, numerous miscellaneous charges, and school projects.

The palms of the local education officer, the BOG, the inspectorate, and the sponsor need regular greasing to induce them to turn a blind eye to mismanagement in schools. The TSC and the sponsor also need regular thanking for appointing the principal and to ensure regular promotions.

The Education Cabinet secretary’s directive may be unconstitutional, but it is a pointer in the right direction. What is needed is a violent shake-up of the education sector. The Constitution is not cast in stone and the TSC should be abolished. The BOGs should be deactivated and the role of the sponsor clearly defined. He who pays the piper calls the tune. Public schools belong to the taxpayers through the government.

The inspectorate should also be strengthened. Many Kenyans will remember with nostalgia the days when a visit by a school inspector would make headmasters shake in their boots hence school heads should be recruited competitively and be made to sign performance contracts.

By ensuring that the parent ministry directly employs all the teachers, not just the principals, the cost of running schools will be drastically reduced and the quality of education improved. The real stakeholders in the sector — parents and students — can only be happy with such changes. 

The teachers would be liberated from the cruel and corrupt thumb of the principal and perform better.

The unions are making noise because these changes would weaken them. To the real stakeholders and the government, weak unions would be a good thing because it would mean less disruption of learning due to unnecessary strikes. 

Reference : www.nation.co.ke