The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary General, Wilson Sossion, is calling for the sacking of Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. Jacob Kaimenyi. "We urge the President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta to... remove Prof. Kaimenyi from the education portfolio in order to salvage the education sector from total collapse." reads his statement in part.
Although Mr. Sossion has cited some of the challenges that are facing the education sector as reasons why the CS should be removed, he has failed to elaborate how different these challenges are from those that the education sector has faced in the past. Similarly, he has not explained the role of teachers in helping the situation although they too are a part of the system.
Take for instance, the prolonged teachers strike at the start of the third term this year. The third term is when candidates seat their final examinations. While it is true that the strike came at a critical time in the education calendar, teachers bore a greater responsibility of ensuring that the Kenya certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and the Kenya certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) were not put into jeopardy. KNUT and the government in which Kaimenyi serves were involved in a tussle over pay dispute. However the government explained why it could not pay a 50-60% pay increase as ordered by the court. At this juncture Wilson Sossion and KNUT should have been held responsible for failing to reign in the strike in time while the dispute was being arbitrated.
On the issue of cheating in exams.The rumour about KCSE-leakage has been dismissed by Prof. Kaimenyi. There is still no evidence to suggest that the exam was leaked. However, even in the rare event that the rumours are confirmed, there is one way that an exam can be leaked and that is through collusion between teachers and the custodians of the exam materials. This has always been the case. Wilson Sossion's teachers could be leaking exams so as to paint the cabinet secretary in bad light. Teachers and by extension KNUT should take full responsibility for the "leaked" exams.
Other accusations leveled against Prof. Kaimenyi by Mr.Sossion including fake degrees and mushrooming of fake universities are challenges that have faced the education sector in Kenya since independence. Prof. Kaimenyi has nothing to do with the problem. In any case, it is during Prof. Kaimenyi's tenure that concrete measures have been taken to deal with fake universities. The liberalization of tertiary education is one such measure. Many incompetent colleges can now be identified easily and closed.
Wilson Sossion's attempt to have Prof. Jacob Kaimenyi replaced at the education ministry is therefore a personal issue and it has no merit. The least he should do is join hands with the cabinet secretary and in a show of patriotism help him tackle the challenges that have crippled our education sector since independence.
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