A team of policy makers, researchers, Civil Society Organizations and academia have come together to discuss and attain evidence-based data that will redirect the course of education in the country.
The team is seeking ways of reforming the education sector through conferences on Education Evidence for Action (EE4A).
This community of evidence producers who gathered at Tom Mboya University, Homa Bay branch for the fifth conference on EE4A, discussed and brainstormed on ways of generating evidence that will inform policies in education.
The Chair EE4A Dr. John Mugo said the conference was highlighting challenges facing the education system through evidence and data.
“There are many questions that are emerging from this conference. For instance, the recently released KCPE results have brought up a lot of conversations,” he said.
The conversations were around what drives learning in some schools and not others and how data and evidence can be used to promote learning among others.
“CBC implementation is cited as a big challenge for our country. The question is our role as researchers in monitoring, implementing and generating data with teachers and parents so that we can know where exactly the problem is, who is affected and what changes need to be made,” Mugo said.
He added, “As researchers and users of data and evidence in and out of government, we have conversed and talked about what we know that we did not know two years ago and how data and evidence can lead us into making better decisions, not just as a government but also as parents, teachers and learners.”
Policy makers can benefit from good evidence, said the director, as good evidence saves on time and money that would otherwise be used on research and that they can do things that will address a national need.
Mugo said there is a need to build a culture of accepting evidence as there are decisions that will come out from the education sector which will be more effective in terms of giving the government ideas about school enrolment, number of dropouts and others.
Dr. Darius Mogaka, Director Higher Education at the Ministry of Education noted the conference was a joint activity where they seek to make headway by holding dialogues and agreeing on the way forward regarding key issues affecting the sector.
The director noted they were analyzing the available evidence that informs the situation in the education sector which the country is in.
“As a ministry and policy makers, we are facilitating the dialogue and will continue our engagements with like-minded people who bring to the table solutions to challenges in the education sector to enable the government ensure successful reforms therein,” he stated.
By Sitna Omar
