Could someone kindly tell me what Prof. Ongeri and his foot soldiers at Jogoo house drink (or smoke?) For whatever it is, it should be “mututhod” with immediate effect. From the way they are doing their work, they seem to be completely devoid of vision. 10 years ago, the ministry came up with a “randical surngery” in the education system; they reduced the number of required subjects from 8 to 7 for the KCSE and 7 to 5 for the KCPE. In 2003/2004, they removed technical subjects such as Electricity, Power Mechanics, Metalwork, and so on. After four years, (a period punctuated with taskforces, committees, and denials of “there were no irregularities in the exam,”) the same subjects were brought back with much less pomp that had witnessed their exit. And in true Kenya fashion of dealing with NGO problems rather than the real problems, they decided to stop the ranking of schools saying that this had caused certain schools to adopt “unorthodox means of teaching.” In 2010, they set up a taskforce to look into the reasons why students were not performing well in sciences; or was it to look into the reasons why boys are better than girls? Whatever it was, it sounded like the motion of a primary school debate. This year, the guys have again set up another task force to bring up a report within the next three months. I am sure they will set up a committee to look into the findings of this committee.

Now, instead of improving the education standards in public primary schools, they have chosen to go with the nusu mkate/nusu mkeka mentality, of “real power sharing” between pupils from public and private schools. And the year has just begun. I am just sick and tired of being sick and tired of these guys! Are you?

i am sooooo much in pain i have no words. Reason, one Prof ongeri.

What happened?

This is what I call Loser mentality. Japan is one of the most competitive countries when it comes to education. Students actually commit suicide for failure to join universities of their choice (you can Google this!). Look where they (Japan) are. One thing your kid should know is that mediocrity is not acceptable in whatever form - unless there is a medical condition. The mediocrity in most kids is more a result of nurture than nature. Unless a kid is a special needs kid, he/she needs to work their a** off. Nini hii?

A very stupid and unimaginative idea from the ministry. Actually this is pure discrimination. The challenge should be to make sure that public schools perform the same or even better than private schools! What do you need in a primary school? There are no elaborate labs and expensive equipments. Buy more books, reduce the student/teacher ratio, demand certain levels of performance from the teachers, monitor, monitor, monitor! We can't do this as a country? We can even dedicate CDF money to these for say 3 years! Some private schools achieve better results with less qualified/experienced teachers! Why? The proprietor/head teacher will not take any crap from the teachers. You perform or ship out!

The discrimination of Public and Private primary schools when it comes to secondary school selection by the Ministry of Education exhibits
nothing but shallow thinking. What needs to be addressed is the reason why public schools post dismal results. And Maichblack has pointed them very well. In addition, guidance & counselling structures in public schools are very poor,which leads to low student morale. This is unlike in private schools, where students are well mentored. Social amenities in these public schools are in deplorable condition too. So lets address these issues head on. A system where some funny criteria is used to select students to secondary schools instead of merit indicates poor leadership.

Ranking, of students in class and schools nationwide, is important. How do we expect these kids to fit in the global business world if they don't know about competition????????

Good people. You need to appreciate the fact that the government is working extremely hard to achieve the goal of Education for All (EFA). Today we have 26,666 primary and 6,566 secondary schools. This is no mean achievement compared to five years ago when we had about 4,000 secondary schools. The principle of access and equity is critical. Let us acknowledge the fact that the government is doing a commendable job to address perennial gaps in our education sector. Left unchecked, a child from a poor family will continue to get sidelined and disadvantaged for life. The fact that the government cannot solely afford to provide education opportunities to its citizenry does not warrant private provider to dictate terms. The only fair logic is to apply a formula (using ratios & proportions) to accommodate all our children. When we start comparing our education system with those in Japan and South Korea, we miss the point. These are two different worlds that are totally incompatible.

MaichB, just to correct you, I did not imply that we should not borrow ideas from other educational systems. My point was, we should not be always quick to compare ourselves with others. Our national objectives and priorities are different from those of other nations. You and I know very well how much productive time our country lost during the Nyayo-era (quarter of a century - 24 years). We will take a while to make up. When I look at the knowledge and skills that are needed in the modern world, they were neither taught in schools nor colleges. Therefore if we are to make a serious leap in our education sector, there is a serious need to totally overhaul our curriculum. Be that as it may, I am satisfied with the steps the MOE is taking to make education accessible to a majority of the populace. If you get time, grab a copy of the Sessional Paper No. 5 of January 2005 to understand the plans our government has for our education.

QD are u serious? R u telling us National schøøls hav been the preserve of rich kids fm private schs? U cant b more wrong....Infact I take that as a thinly veiled insult to the poor kids. Its such comments that make Ongeri seem so right!

Easy guys i deed not want to offend anybody thats why i stated Just a question.

SORRY if i offended any of the wazuan tribe. my apologies.

I agree with you.