County governments will promote exemplary performance in schools

By Kilemi Mwiria

The explanation for poor KCPE performance in most counties goes beyond the traditional excuses.

It has little to do with lack of role models because there are successful men and women everywhere. Or with poverty and drought, otherwise Marsabit, Tharaka and Makueni counties should not be so highly ranked.

Or inadequacy of teachers as this is true of all counties. It is not about Free Primary Education (FPE) as today’s good performers were up there before the programme. Poor results are largely a reflection of an ineffective educational management system from Jogoo House to the zones.

First, is how most public school heads are appointed, promoted and retained. The process is largely non-competitive, leaving it to District Education Officers (DEOs) and sponsors, where loyalty can be more important than competence.

Incompetent and undisciplined heads are bad examples to their teachers, pupils and parents.

They cannot be expected to motivate them or punish errant and non-performing teachers. Worse still, firing a non-performing head is almost impossible; instead problem cases are mostly transferred to other schools.

Just above the school heads are the Teacher Advisory Centre tutors (TAC tutors) responsible for educational zones. The way they are appointed is rarely transparent.

Many non-performing, but well connected teachers end up taking these jobs, which are decided at the offices of DEOs. Most lack the confidence to supervise head teachers who may have a better track record than them.

It does not help that many of them are assigned whole educational divisions and double up as TACs, educational officers and school inspectors. Serving in their home districts makes matters worse, aware as most are that they can move to other divisions in their districts even after posting poor results.

Similarly, their immediate superiors, the DEOs and Provincial Directors of Education (PDEs) and key district and provincial staff are not interviewed for the jobs.

They are simply redeployed from a pool of serving educational officers following recommendations by a senior ministry official or politician.

There are equally major questions regarding district, provincial and national auditing and quality assurance teams. Heads and other staff are rarely punished for offences committed if they part with some cash.

Sometimes, auditing teams prepare favourable reports for those they are meant to inspect for the accused to sign! Even where necessary action is recommended, the bureaucracy can be overbearing, not to mention the many godfathers who come in the way. The whole thing is a tragic circus.

If these management layers are the right calibre, they would be effective links with ministry headquarters, teachers’ unions, local administration and communities.

They would collectively manage challenges such as drug abuse, alcoholism, school insecurity and child labour.

To me, the solution is to make county governments responsible for recruiting, promotion and retention of teachers and other educational officials. They will be well placed to convince their people to have greater interest in education.

They will be accountable to their constituents than some bureaucrats in Nairobi with little appreciation and interest in local issues. They will know that to be competitive nationally and globally, they have to recruit the best available human resources.

The writer is MP for Tigania West and Assistant Minister Higher Education, Science & Technology