The outgoing Cabinet Secretary of Education Prof George Magoha had asked the new administration to invest in the university education in Kenya.
The Cabinet Secretary was speaking on Wednesday during the launch of the induction of the 49- member working party in Karen. The 49-member task force is being led by Ezekiel Munavu. The main intention of the task force is to advise president Ruto on the entire education system.
During his campaign time, the then Deputy President promised that should he take power, he would make sure that every County government would have a university. However, the outgoing Cabinet Secretary for education is now advising the task force mandated to spearhead the education system-change to advise the current president to reconsider his campaign pledge.
“If you go to the Oxfords of this world, a single university has 38 colleges across the country,” he said.
“Why are we having three, or four universities in a township and then you make it worse by creating other branches in other townships?” The former tutor at the university of Nairobi (UoN) advised that by spreading university institutions to every County, it will completely dilute the lustre that the likes of UoN now enjoys.
Prof Magoha is of the opinion that university education is in a nosedive simply because the governments of the day have never given it a proper attention. That has – in turn – greatly impacted negatively on its key mandate to churn out top brains. The former don also attributed political interference, as another hindrance to good university education in Kenya.
“Look at universities without prejudice, remove the politician, remove the fake expert because you cannot be an expert if you don’t belong to the university system,” he said. Prof Magoha also cited under funding as another contributor to the diminishing trend being witnessed in our university education systems.
President Ruto had asked the Munavu team to review legislation in the institutions of higher learning. This includes technical and vocational training institutions and universities.
“Review and recommend legislation to facilitate the amalgamation of HELB, TVET, and University Funding Boards, with a view of harmonising and merging all tertiary education funding entities,” the notice reads.
