The Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (PWPER) has proposed that, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) hire pastors and Imams to support Value-based Education (VbE) in schools.
In its final report presented to President William Ruto on Tuesday, August 1, the Prof. Raphael Munavu-led team suggested that in order to accomplish this, all members of the school community should be involved.
It said values should be incorporated into all subject areas, and formal chaplaincy programmes should be developed and implemented in schools.
“TSC shall employ and deploy teachers as chaplains/imams in schools and the chaplains/imams can be shared between schools,” PWPER recommended.
TSC will also be in charge of making sure that schools uphold each student’s right to freedom of religion.
“A provision on facilitation of religious rights of learners in schools including the sponsored schools should be included in the Basic Education Act,” reads part of the report.
In its proposals, the working party recommended that the Competency-Based Curriculum be reviewed to reduce the workload on pupils.
PWPER, therefore, recommends that the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) reduce the number of learning areas from 9 to 7 for grade one to three, from 12 to 8 for grades four to six and from 14 to 9 for grades seven to nine.
In other proposals, the working party recommends an all-inclusive school comprising pre-primary, primary and junior secondary in one campus and managed as one institution.
The Munavu team also proposed the word ‘secondary’ be dropped from the current Junior Secondary and Senior Secondary.
The working party goes on to suggest that the Ministry of Education (Moe) develops a policy framework on dress code for all levels of education.
The changes also introduce mandatory community service for students transitioning from Senior School to universities and TVET institutions, and as they graduate from tertiary institutions.
The Working Group’s recommendations will ease the financial burden on the number of books to be bought by limiting to two textbooks per subject.
Additionally, the Munavu-led task force recommended an increase in funding for education.
Pre-primary education, to be funded at the rate of Ksh1, 170 per learner per year, while the primary school capitation grant will almost double from Ksh1, 420 to Ksh2, 238 per year.
Senior high school students will receive Ksh22, 527 per year.
There is also a recommendation to introduce a minimal essential package to cushion schools whose enrolment is below the optimal level.
The recommended amounts are Ksh70, 200 for pre-primary, Ksh537, 120 for primary, Ksh2.03 million for junior, Ksh3.04 million for senior and Ksh1.89 million for special education.
The PWPER has also recommended that the Jomo Kenyatta Foundation be abolished and replaced with the Kenya Basic Education Bursaries and Scholarship Council.
Its mandate will be to coordinate the administration of bursaries and scholarships.
According to the report, stakeholders suggested that tracking of learners should start at birth to inform school enrolment and for capitation purposes.
It recommends the introduction of a unique identifier for each child from birth throughout their education which should be achieved within a year.
The team met Ruto at State House, Nairobi and was seeking views from the public and other sector stakeholders to inform its terms of reference with respect to the reform of the education sector in Kenya.
By Thuita Jaswant
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