Members of the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (PWPWR) concluded a three-day orientation into the currents and essentials of education reform initiatives taking place in Kenya and around the world yesterday.
The induction took place at the Centre for Mathematics, Science and Technology in Africa (CEMASTEA) in Nairobi.
The 49-member team, chaired by Prof. Raphael Munavu, has been tasked to look into education reforms and make appropriate recommendations to the government at the end of six months.
Prof. Munavu asked the team members to be objective while listening to the views Kenyans will present to them when they hold countrywide public hearings into issues in education.
“Public engagement means listening to the citizens,” Munavu noted, adding that education has the capacity to transform the socioeconomic fortunes of a country.
Munavu called for the need to ensure that the information and documents they gather or receive to enable writing its report was credible.
“As we craft the report, look at the global, regional and national contexts,” Munavu noted, saying that the recommendations they will make should be as bold and as objective as possible.
He said the only way individuals and societies win friends and influence people is through quality education. “Take education, use it and you will transform people,” Munavu said.
He told team members that they have the potential and the opportunity to transform education in ways that will make Kenya different.
Last month, President William Ruto constituted the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms to review education reforms and make appropriate recommendations to the government.
The 49-member team has been tasked with evaluating the country’s education system and recommending an appropriate structure to implement the Competency Based Curriculum.
In a gazette notice dated 29th September, the PWPWR is expected to study all laws governing the basic education subsector and make recommendations for review of these legislations with a view to addressing duplication, ambiguities, efficiency constraints and improving linkages.
It will also review and recommend equitable access to education especially for those facing social, economic and geographic marginalization, vulnerable populations, children and persons with special needs.
The working party is further expected to furnish the Head of State with a progress report every two months from the date of commencement and a final report at the end of term.
On tertiary and university education, the President has tasked the team to review and recommend a governance and financing framework for TVET training and development, university education, research and training.
The taskforce will also recommend a framework of operationalizing the National Open University of Kenya and a framework on Open, Distance and E-line learning (ODEL) make recommendations for streamlining continuity in TVET and university education transition.
The PWPWR has been granted powers to invite and consider views from sector stakeholders and members of the public, hold a number of meetings in places and at such times as it shall consider necessary for the proper discharge of its functions, and regulate its own procedure.
The Chairperson said PWPWR will notify the public on how it intends to meet and collect views from them as soon as possible.
By Joseph Ng’ang’a
