Starting yesterday about
14 million children will stay at home after the government ordered the closure
of all public and private schools. The Ministry of Education has decided to
review term dates following three weeks of teachers’ strike that has crippled
learning, especially in public schools.
The argument by the government is that we
can’t afford to pay teachers the 50-60 percent pay increase, which the
government negotiated with the teachers’ unions. The decision to close public
and private all schools makes the teachers’ strike a grave and urgent national
crisis. It is difficult to guess where the government and the unions will go
from here.
At the heart of the “can’t pay won’t pay” stance
is the argument that a hefty pay award to teachers would kick the balance
between recurrent and development expenditure off-kilter, and stifle economic
growth. It is estimated the Kenya spends about 52 percent of all public revenue
on salaries. Public finance aficionados consider this unsustainable. Treasury
officials also argue that a large pay increase for teachers, who they argue are
already better paid than civil servants, would trigger a tsunami of agitations
for higher wages across the entire public sector.
The teachers’ strike invites a broader
conversation about public education and the future of Kenya’s children in a competitive
globalized knowledge economy. Here are some sobering facts about the state of
human capital in Kenya: about 2 million children of primary school age are out
of school; learning outcomes in public schools are deplorable, with 2 out 3
children in standard 3 unable to pass reading and numeracy test for standard 2;
average teacher-pupil ratio in primary school is 1:50; the transition rate into
secondary school is about 60 percent, with a net enrollment ratio of about 40
percent; about 87 percent of Kenyans aged between 18 and 35 don’t have post
secondary qualifications; and, about 45 percent of students graduating from our
universities are unemployable and many of those that are employed, including
lawyers, teachers, doctors, civil servants, politicians and journalists, are mediocre.
These facts worry me sick. Given that more
than 65 percent of Kenyans are aged below 25 and the median age is just 19
years we must pause and make hard decisions about the scale of public spending
in education. We must re-evaluate our priorities. The future of this country is
really about the quality of its citizens – the quality of education, the
training and skills of its youth.
To compete in a globalized 21st
century knowledge economy, we need a student-centered curriculum, which enables
students to think, play, collaborate, co-create knowledge, innovate and solve
problems. Hence, we need more and better-trained teachers. We need more schools
with better infrastructure. We need more and better learning resources,
including technology, in our classrooms. Quality public education must be the
birthright of every Kenyan child, not a privilege for the few children whose
parents can afford expensive private schools.
About 85 percent of the cost of education is
teachers’ salaries. I believe that a well-educated workforce is critical to
building equitable prosperity. Every thing we care about as a country; economic
prosperity, national cohesion, political stability and democracy are
inextricable bound to a well-educated and highly skilled workforce. Hence,
spending on education, including teachers’ salaries, must be seen more broadly
as spending on development.
Whatever the outcome of the feud between
teachers’ unions and the government, we must re-examine our development
priorities, and rationalize the structure and function of government at all
levels. An unwieldy, outsized government will surely crowd out resources for
development, especially education, and devour our future.
How much we spend on education must not be predicated
on some arbitrary formulaic percentage or fears of fiscal catastrophe, hinged
on economic superstition. How much we spend on educating our children must be
based on sound evaluation, which matches our current and projected development
needs with the requisite quality of education and skills for our workforce.
What will earn Kenya respect and global
competitiveness is not the height of our skyscrapers or the number of lanes on
our highways or the width of our railway or how much land we have under
irrigation. What will earn us respect is how well we educate our youth for a competitive
globalized knowledge economy. The future of this country – the youth – must become
our most urgent national priority.
Great true article ,surely this fact makes me more sick, bout 2 million children of primary school age are out of school; learning outcomes in public schools are deplorable, with 2 out 3 children in standard 3 unable to pass reading and numeracy test for standard 2; average teacher-pupil ratio in primary school is 1:50; the transition rate into secondary school is about 60 percent, with a net enrollment ratio of about 40 percent; about 87 percent of Kenyans aged between 18 and 35 don’t have post secondary qualifications; and, about 45 percent of students graduating from our universities are unemployable and many of those that are employed, including lawyers, teachers, doctors, civil servants, politicians and journalists, are mediocre.
ReplyDeleteGreat true article ,surely this fact makes me more sick, bout 2 million children of primary school age are out of school; learning outcomes in public schools are deplorable, with 2 out 3 children in standard 3 unable to pass reading and numeracy test for standard 2; average teacher-pupil ratio in primary school is 1:50; the transition rate into secondary school is about 60 percent, with a net enrollment ratio of about 40 percent; about 87 percent of Kenyans aged between 18 and 35 don’t have post secondary qualifications; and, about 45 percent of students graduating from our universities are unemployable and many of those that are employed, including lawyers, teachers, doctors, civil servants, politicians and journalists, are mediocre.
ReplyDeleteWell put
ReplyDelete