10 Ways the Ministry of Education can Improve Performance in KCPE and KCSE

  

Date Posted: 7/7/2015 3:10:53 PM

Posted By: NeilMwombe  Membership Level: Silver  Total Points: 129

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The Ministry of Education should:

1. Prioritize the upgrading and professionalization of the teaching profession in order to attract the best brains. The quality of an education system can not exceed the quality of its teachers. If student performance is the measure of a teacher’s quality, then, the 70% under-performance in Kenya Certificate of Primary Education and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education means that our teacher quality is 30% good.
2. Through policy and legal framework, require all primary school teachers to be holders of a graduate degree and those of secondary schools possess a master’s degree. All the 10 top performing countries in education they teachers to have a obtained at least a first degree. Highly trained teachers have been proven to produce better performing students than their non-graduate colleagues.
3. Popularize the teaching profession by remunerating teachers as professionals. Teachers are the highest paid civil servants in Japan, and some of the best paid staff in Finland, Hong Kong and Singapore.
4. Establish a national educational foundation that will actively seek funding for educational research for purposes of improving quality education.
5. Carry out periodic and regular appraisals and audits on all the institutions and organisations managing education in the country and holding them accountable for their performance. Despite dismal performance, none of the heads of these bodies have been held accountable.
6. Align the educational policy to incorporate successful global educational policies and standards especially in the area of teacher preparation, education and development. In Japan, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Finland, teacher education can last up to six years, before one is licensed to teach.
7. Legislate the funding of educational infrastructure and resource development through a special educational development levy imposed on all corporations operating in the country. As it is most of the funds allocated to the education sector meets recurrent expenditure in the form

of salaries. High performance in examinations requires effective teaching and learning, which in turn demands adequate and appropriate teaching and learning resources.
8. Legislate the incorporation of IT in all aspects of educational administration, teacher training and student education. Digitization of all educational processes will accelerate the learning process and enable learners cover the curriculum adequately.
9. Enrich and strengthen the school feeding and nutrition programmes particularly at primary level, by involving the private sectors and development partners. Local communities should be engaged in these programmes for sustainability purposes. Hungry and unhealthy kids do not learn effectively.
10. Enforce the teaching of life skills through sports, arts, drama and music, research and technology. Sports and arts help in a great way to lower levels of stress and anxiety in learners. Sports and exercises promote health in learners while music, art and technology promote creativity.

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