Following the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chairperson Wafula Chebukati’s declaration of William Samoei Ruto as the President-elect, the focus has now shifted to what he promised Kenyans.
Teachers are now anxious for their issues to be addressed.
Many are wondering if the new regime will deliver radical reforms and revolutionalize the education sector or if it will fail like many other promises issued in previous times like in the Jubilee Manifesto.
Equitable Education
According to the new regime’s manifesto, they should soon be focusing on the capacity of day secondary schools to ensure that many people in the country are able to afford high-quality education.
The Kenya Kwanza Coalition principals pledged to introduce a special tariff for utilities for learning institutions in order to further reduce the cost of education.
“Education is the ultimate means of engendering an equitable society.”
Providing equitable education ensures that every child has a chance to fulfil their potential and rise to the highest level of accomplishment, irrespective of their social background.
“Conversely, an inequitable education system, which favours those from socially and economically advantaged backgrounds, is the surest way of maintaining or developing a class society,” read part of the manifesto.
“The Kenya Kwanza government commits to addressing the inequities in our education system so as to level the playing field for all children, irrespective of their background.
“We further commit to equitable universal basic education, defined as 12 years of schooling,” said President-elect Wiliam Ruto during his campaigns.
Ruto’s administration promised to double the amount of money allocated to the program, immediately increasing the number of beneficiaries from two to four million and providing conditional grants to county governments to increase the number to eight million.
The President-elect will also establish a national fund to ensure that students across the country have equitable access to bursaries, with the Kenya Kwanza alliance intending to cast a wider net to include learners with disabilities.
Addressing Teacher Delocalization and Shortage
Ruto also promised a change in policy to address the current teacher shortage.
On June 23, 2022, while at the Catholic University of East Africa (CUEA), the President-elect promised to do away with the teacher delocalization policy and replace it with one that values teachers as a national resource.
Incentives to teachers were also promised to teachers such as facilitating in-service training for teachers and restricting the de-localization policy to include special allowances for teachers who work away from home.
Further funding to institutions of higher learning was promised. According to Ruto, the institutions of higher learning are burdened by a massive burden of debt.
The establishment of a National Skill and Funding Council to coordinate scholarship issuance was also promised.
Ruto also pledged to fully equip technical training and vocational education training institutions (TVET) in the remaining 52 constituencies within his first two years in office.
Besides, Ruto hoped to establish a one-year paid national internship program for all graduates in order to prepare them for the job market.
The Kenya Kwanza administration also said that they will review the exam-based system of academic progression which “excluded millions of learners” based on basic education level exit examinations and will implement alternative criteria for entry.
R & D funding will also be increased from 0.8% to 2% of the GDP.