National Schools to be Abolished Due to Merging of Schools
National Schools to be Abolished Due to Merging of Schools. The Presidential Working Party on Education Reform (PWPER) has encouraged the Ministry of Education (MOE) to eliminate the current category of public secondary schools.
In the recommendations given to President William Ruto on Tuesday, August 1, 2023, the committee headed by Professor Raphael Munavu recommended that the government abandon the current four-tier cluster, which consists of National, Extra-county, county, and sub-county, and adopt a categorization based on career pathways.
PWPER recommended that the Ministry of Education substitute three large clusters, such as STEM, Social Science and Arts, and Sports Science, for the current levels.
“Ministry of Education to discontinue the current organization of public secondary schools as National, Extra county, county, and Sub-county: and adopt a categorization based on career pathways for senior schools,” according to parts of the statement.
The task team also argued that removing the clusters would promote equity and inclusion.
The committee also stated that stakeholders had protested about the current classification, claiming that it was unfair to students because it worsened the imbalance in resource distribution between schools.
The Munavu-led group also proposed that the Ministry of Education develop a framework for attire regulations at all educational levels.
According to PWPER, the measure will prevent schools from collaborating with suppliers to raise uniform pricing and force parents to purchase them.
The suggestion is congruent with statements made by Moses Kuria, Cabinet Secretary for Trade, on the subject.
Kuria claimed that schools had become for-profit businesses by manipulating parents by selling expensive uniforms.
“The Ministry of Education has been very categorical that our schools have no business selling uniforms,” he said, noting that parents have the freedom to buy uniforms wherever they choose. “Our teachers need to focus on academia and helping our children transition to CBC and other objectives that the ministry has set.”
“The government has sent a circular, and in fact, the ministry will send another circular today that our parents have complete discretion and freedom over where to buy uniforms,” Kuria remarked at the time.