Kenya Kwanza coalition has promised to employ 116, 000 teachers within their first two years in government if they win the presidential bid.
This pledge aimed at bridging the teacher shortage gap in the country is one of the issues in the coalition’s manifesto.
The manifesto was unveiled on Thursday, June 30 night by the Kenya Kwanza Coalition presidential flag bearer, William Ruto at the Kasarani indoors arena.
According to the deputy president, the Kenya Kwanza government will address inequities the education system, so as to level the playing field for all children irrespective of their background.
Moreover, the plan to recruit more teachers will see a rise in the allocation to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) which has been struggling with the shortage even though they are always declaring vacancies.
Also Read: Kenya Kwanza Coalition Set To Unveil Manifesto On Thursday
Likewise, the treasury allocated the teachers commission KSh298.4 billion to facilitate recruitment of teachers in the country in the Financial Year 2022 – 2023.
Therefore, if Ruto wins the presidential bid in August, the teacher to student ratio would significantly improve by 2024, especially at the time when the Comptency Based Curriculum (CBC) is taking shape.
DP Ruto also confirmed that his government will continue to aid the smooth implementation of the programme.
In addition, the Kenya Kwanza Education Agenda is committed to ensuring the government pays for in-service teacher training that will be initiated.
Furthermore, other agenda on matters education emphasized in the manifesto are listed below.
- Introduce a Special Service Tariff for all learning institutions for basic utilities to facilitate lower prices for goods and services such as electricity and food.
- Establish a National Skill & Funding Council that amalgamates HELB, TVET and University Funding Board and increase funding to bridge the current 45% gap.
- Review the current exam-based system of academic progression, which has excluded millions of learners based on basic education exit exams, by implementing alternative entry criteria.
- Have fully equipped technical training and vocational education training institutions (TVET) in the remaining 52 constituencies within the first two years
- Improve capacity of day secondary schools to guarantee access to quality education and reduce the cost of education.
- Establish a one year paid National Internship Programme for all students graduating from teachers ‘technical, medical colleges and universities, by collaborating with industry players.
- Set up a National Open University to increase access and reduce the cost of university education while making 100% transition to higher education a reality
- Double the amount of money allocated to the school feeding programme to immediately raise the number of beneficiaries from two million to four million; and to provide conditional grants to county governments to raise the numbers to 8 million.
- Increase funding to research and development institutions from the current 0.8% to 2% of GDP in accordance with the Science and Technology Innovation (ST&I) Act2013 and according to the bottom-up economic agenda. Additionally, incentivize will be given to the private sector to contribute towards research.
