The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) has opposed a proposal by ODM leader Raila Odinga to transfer the management of primary and secondary education to county governments.
Currently, the Constitution only allows counties to oversee Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) and vocational training colleges.
Knut Secretary-General Collins Oyuu and National Treasurer James Ndiku accused counties of failing to effectively manage ECDE and warned that devolving more education functions would be disastrous.
They threatened to mobilise teachers to reject the proposal should it be subjected to public participation.
“We have seen that county governments are unable to manage ECDE. There is no proper quality assurance. If they cannot handle ECDE, how can they manage additional levels of education?” Mr Oyuu said in Wote Town, Makueni County.
Mr Ndiku added: “This is not the right time to talk about devolving more levels of education because we are still rolling out competency-based education, which is far more expensive.”
The Knut officials praised President William Ruto’s administration for hiring thousands of teachers in the last three years and for striking a recent deal with the union to streamline the education sector.
However, they castigated Mr Odinga, urging him to “leave education matters to experts.”
Mr Odinga sparked debate last week at the 13th Devolution Conference in Homabay, where he called on the national government to surrender the management of primary and secondary schools to the counties.
ODM leader Raila Odinga (centre) with Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga and other leaders at Devolution Conference in Homa Bay County on August 14, 2024.
Photo credit: George Odiwuor | Nation Media Group
He argued that counties had “matured enough” to take on more responsibilities as envisioned by the 2010 Constitution.
“We must break the cycle of managing schools from far away in Nairobi. A time has come to devolve education up to secondary school. It makes no sense for a Cabinet Secretary for Education to travel to Marsabit or Garissa to inspect primary schools. That should be the work of county governors,” Mr Odinga said.
His remarks come at a time when secondary schools are reeling from budget shortfalls due to delayed disbursement of government capitation funds.
Mr Odinga also renewed his push to scrap the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) and the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF), saying the money should instead be channeled to governors to finance education.
He further revealed that education would have been fully devolved during the 2010 Constitution-making process were it not for Knut’s resistance at the time.
“We only devolved ECDE to avoid a fight with Knut. They had threatened to mobilize teachers to reject the constitution if education was fully devolved,” Mr Odinga said.
Knut, however, maintains that its position has not changed.
“The stand we took in 2010 remains the same,” Mr Oyuu said.
