Government to Employ 58000 teachers during its first year in office.
Roughly 58,000 teachers will be employed during the first year of President William Ruto’s reign in a major step to ease the shortage in Kenyan schools.
The Kenya Kwanza Education Agreement says a similar number of teachers will be hired each year to plug the widening teacher gap in public schools.
Ruto promised to bridge the shortage in public schools within two financial years. “For each phase, we will hire 58,000 teachers when we form the government, to close that gap,’’ said Ruto.
He said Ksh25 billion shall be set aside yearly for capitation, teacher training, and employment mainly in the marginalized areas so that all students have access to education.
The education charter also proposed other goodies including the formation of a national education fund to mobilize grants, bursaries, and scholarships from private and public sponsors to provide for non-tuition costs.
“To this effect, the Kenya Kwanza administration will work towards strengthening day secondary schools to guarantee access to quality education and reduce the cost of education,” says Ruto.
At present, parents meet the cost of transport, meals, uniform, and boarding fees under the current Free Primary Education (FPE) and the Free Day Secondary Education.
The Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) will also face fresh reviews under Ruto’s government.
Ruto promised that his government will not scrap off CBC but alternatively strengthen it by encouraging further engagements with parents, teachers, and stakeholders.
He said this will make the education system available to all, affordable, and relevant to the kind of human capital needed for the economy to grow.
“This discussion is going to be largely about how do we achieve universal access; how do we make sure our education is relevant so that we can use it to tackle the challenges of our time. “How do we make education much more affordable for the majority and how do we get a quality education where we don’t have half-baked people,” Ruto said.
Kenya Kwanza also proposes to introduce alternative class transition criteria from the current knowledge-based academic development system.
“We commit to continue our robust engagement with the public to facilitate the assessment of the current curriculum and education structure towards finding a sustainable solution that will capture the essence of a knowledge-based system,” he added
Ruto promised to review CBC to accommodate concerns from parents, teachers as well as stakeholders in the Education sector. “As Kenya Kwanza, we support the progression from what we had as knowledge and exam-based education, only, to the new format of knowledge, skills, and competence as well as value-based education,” Ruto added.