This archive report was first published on 6 January 2020.
As schools reopen for the first term of the year, the education sector in Kenya is on the brink of collapse. The sector is grappling with a multitude of problems that threaten to worsen this year.
At the heart of the crisis is a crippling teacher shortage estimated at 100,000 in primary and secondary schools. Although the Teachers Service Commission recently hired 10,000 interns and 5,000 permanent teachers, the changes are incremental and unsustainable.
The shortage has taken a toll on teacher morale, with educators forced to take on extra work to ensure learning is not disrupted. However, this heavier load means learners are receiving inadequate individualized attention from teachers.
The situation is further complicated by the government's 100 per cent transition policy, which aims to put all primary school leavers into secondary schools. While the policy is noble in principle, it has put a strain on schools, which are struggling to accommodate more students with fewer teachers.
With over a million pupils expected to join secondary schools in the next two weeks, the sector is facing unprecedented challenges. The new Competency-Based Curriculum will also enter the fourth grade this year, but questions remain over how learners will transition from one level to the other and how they will be examined.
Training of teachers for the new curriculum has been haphazard, and teaching and learning materials have yet to reach schools. In the higher education sector, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges are severely understaffed, with a shortage of about 5,000 out of a capacity of 8,000.
At the universities, more than 9,000 lecturers and about 27,000 non-teaching staff plan to boycott work over a dispute regarding the implementation of the 2017-2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement. The reforms pledged by Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha to enhance quality of teaching and learning are yet to take root.
Unless these problems are confronted decisively, the entire education sector is likely to suffer. While there is no silver bullet to cure them, practical solutions must be sought urgently.
