(PSCU) – President Uhuru Kenyatta today emphasized the Jubilee Party’s plan to transform the quality of education and to make it more inclusive.
Speaking a day after he unveiled the party’s Manifesto, President Kenyatta said his Government will provide free education in all public primary and day secondary education, a move aimed at achieving a 100 percent transition from primary to secondary school.
The President’s promise comes hot on the heel of major milestones achieved in the last four years under his Administration.
Some of the milestones achieved include Kenya’s education sector being ranked the best in Africa recently, a standard the Jubilee Government promises to maintain and improve.
The President, who spoke in Tharaka Nithi County where he and his deputy William Ruto, popularized the Jubilee Party Manifesto, said human capital is a great asset to any nation and his Administration will continue giving high priority to inclusive and quality education.
In the last four years, enrollment in national schools increased from only 4,600 to 24,795. The Jubilee Government has provided Kshs 25 million to each County to expand the existing school infrastructure to national school standards.
The Government has also recruited a record 16,000 teachers in the last four years – the highest number recruited in a similar time frame since independence.
President Kenyatta’s Administration has also increased the number of Technical Training Institutes to provide Technical and Vocational Education and Training from only 45 in 2013 to 206 today. Out of that number, 70 are under construction and will be completed soon.
President Kenyatta said his administration has invested in the expansion and revitalization of technical training institutes to respond to the growing demand for skilled labour by companies.
The Government has also overhauled the curriculum and the education system, improved its quality and relevance and restored the integrity of the examination system.
The Jubilee government has worked hard to transform the country’s education system to a more value-based and relevant to Kenya’s 21st-century development needs.
The ongoing curriculum review is aimed at moving the education system to a competency-based teaching framework.
Under President Kenyatta, the Government has introduced digital learning programme in a drive aimed at keeping Kenya’s human resource competitiveness and ensure the country maintains the best workforce in the region.
In that regard, 992, 073 digital learning devices have already been produced and distributed. Some 95,000 teachers have already been trained while digital learning content is available for children in Class 1 and 2.
The Jubilee Administration promises to improve the quality and quantity of the middle-level workforce by aligning the curriculum with the needs of industry, revitalising Youth Polytechnics, completing the ongoing construction of the 70 TTIs, and equipping and staffing all TTIs.
The President through the Party’s manifesto pledges to establish formal linkages between the private sector, academia and government to solve real life issues including by linking research and analysis to important national issues and by harnessing expertise in universities to support the industrialisation agenda.
The positive impact such arrangements can achieve has already been demonstrated in current schemes where two universities are producing digital learning equipment for primary schools, the party Manifesto says.
Jubilee also pledges to establish centres of excellence and an innovation hub to tap into the talent pool of Kenyan youth.
It further pledges to establish a centre of excellence in the automotive sector and position the Kenya Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) at Konza Technopolis as a world-class Science and Technology Research University which will nurture a technologically advanced population.
