NAIROBI, Kenya – The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) has rejected a proposal by ODM leader Raila Odinga to transfer the management of schools from the national government to county governments, warning that such a move would destabilise the education sector.
Speaking at last week’s Devolution Conference in Homa Bay, Odinga argued that devolving both primary and secondary education would ease bureaucratic bottlenecks and bring services closer to citizens.
“We must break the cycle of managing schools from far away in Nairobi. The time has come to devolve education up to secondary school,” the former Prime Minister said. “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.”
But KNUT officials swiftly dismissed the idea, pointing to what they termed counties’ poor track record in handling Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE), which is currently a devolved function.
“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?” KNUT Secretary General Collins Oyuu said in Wote, Makueni County.
His colleague, National Treasurer James Ndiku, added that Odinga’s proposal was “misplaced and ill-timed,” noting that the country is still grappling with the costly rollout of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).
“This is not the right moment to discuss devolving more levels of education because we are still rolling out the CBC, which is far more expensive,” he said.
The union threatened to mobilise teachers to oppose the plan if it proceeds to public participation forums, while praising President William Ruto’s administration for employing thousands of teachers and striking agreements with KNUT to stabilise the sector.
Odinga, however, insisted that devolution of education would strengthen service delivery, saying that full devolution of schools was initially considered during the drafting of the 2010 Constitution but dropped after KNUT’s resistance.
He also renewed his call to scrap the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) and the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF), saying the money should instead be channelled through counties to support education.
KNUT has accused Odinga of “overstepping” and maintained that education policy and management should remain in the hands of experts.
