Catholic Schools Principals’ Association Kenya (CaSPA-K) has elected new officials and resolved to create a family school partnership to enhance discipline and proper learning among other key issues in the education sector.
This was arrived at during a three days conference at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA).
The CaSPA-K 8th Edition Conference whose theme was “Catholic Schools: Hubs of Moral Values and Faith Formation for the Whole School Community in Respect for Human Dignity.” was held in partnership with The Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, Commission for Education and Religious Education.
The event saw the election of new officials who will lead the association for three years from 2023 to 2026.
Those elected are Simon Mwachofi from Mombasa Metropolitan who was elected chairperson as Paul Warutere becomes the vice chair from Nairobi Metropolitan.
Others are secretary Jemima Muthea (Nairobi Metropolitan), vice secretary Patrick Mwakaya (Mombasa Metropolitan), treasurer Florence Kanani (Nyeri Metropolitan), organizing secretary Alice Rita (Kisumu Metropolitan), Magret Muchiri (Nyeri Metropolitan) among others.
The conference gave a platform for the catholic schools to discuss how to improve learning in the schools and promote religion.
KCCB’s Commission for Education and Religious Education chair Bishop Paul Kariuki Njiru who was the key speaker said the commission will continue supporting CASPA-K which he noted has grown over the years and led to the formation of many associations,
He said new challenges such as drugs, alcoholism, cultism LGBTQ and other issues in social media are affecting young people and the school heads and other shareholders should come up with ways of helping the young people to safeguard the society.
“If we promote this thing, tomorrow we will not have a society that we want, as custodians of learning you should remain vigilant,” he said.
The bishop pointed out that the report from Presidential Working Party on Education Reform (PWPER) presented to President William Ruto contain recommendation and the principals should interact with the report and implement it, he said the church was involved and presented their views.
He also raised concern over the introduction of sex education in Junior Secondary Schools which KCCB claims has violated the Ministry of Education policy against exposure of children to explicit content.
CASPA chair Nicholas Muasya urged the principals to prepare for Junior schools and go through the presidential report and challenged them to make the education system better.
The principals resolved to cooperate with other stakeholders to accelerate and institutionalize Teacher Induction Mentorship and Coaching (TIMEC) to reduce discipline issues and support teachers.
CaSPA-K recommended initiating children protection programs in schools and implementing Pastoral programs.
The school heads were also urged to maintain transparency and accountability in financial management and follow IPSAS standards.
CaSPA-K will also work with parishes to have youth intervention strategies to address emerging moral issues among the youth and also maintain health and safety policies in schools.
The association also suggested that schools should partner with The Centre for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Africa (CEMASTEA) to improve performance in STEM subjects.
CASPA pointed out that there is an urgent need for collaboration between the Ministry of Education and schools to capacity-build accounting officers, and principals on International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) reporting and implementations.
The association will engage the office of the auditor general, and public procurement authority to come up with plans on implementation strategies for IPSAS.
Effects of climate change are also an issue in the schools, principals and other stakeholders were challenged to address climate change through adaptation and mitigation.
By Obegi Malack
obegimalack@gmail.com
Get more stories from our website: Education News
To write to us or offer feedback, you can reach us through: editor@educationnews.co.ke
You can also follow our social media pages on Twitter: Education News KE and Facebook: Education News Newspaper For timely updates.
