Education: Reforms to expose strained varsities

Irene Githinji and Oliver Musembi

Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha yesterday said impending reforms in universities will reveal institutions that are on the verge of collapse due to financial straits.

He said some universities were insolvent because of mismanagement and inviability of their courses.

Magoha said the institutions must ensure they can pay staff, adding that his Ministry has given them an opportunity to right size.

Universities found non-compliant at the end of the reforms exercise might be downgraded to colleges after deliberations.

Halt admission

This emerged even as Magoha downplayed alleged merger plans, which he termed a “figment of some individuals’ imagination”.

“This merger issue is myopic, if it is coming it will be through a thorough process,” he said in a speech read on his behalf by Research Management deputy director Cyril Oyuga at Kenyatta University, during a pre-conference of the 3rd National Conference on Curriculum Reforms.

The CS urged universities to take the lead in ensuring implementation of the competence-based curriculum (CBC). Already, the government has halted admission of P1 teachers for a year, as the ministry develops a curriculum that is in line with the CBC.

Meanwhile, Magoha has asked the Kenya National Examinations Council to tell the public “in simple terms” by Friday, that Grade 3 assessment is not about exams.

• Magoha
• university