SAM'S SENSE: Education, mind the gaps

Let me explain how.

Following the midnight fire at Utumishi Girls Senior School, it has dawned on the ministry that the institution admitted more students than its capacity. That instead of a maximum of 650 learners, they had admitted up to 715. Not my numbers, the minister’s.

When asked how that happened without the knowledge of Jogoo House, the CS informed that admission reports were yet to be received at the headquarters. But then, the ministry has constantly said that the transition to grade 10 is now over 99 per cent. How did they know? Also, just before the start of the second term, the ministry reported disbursing capitation, you may ask, to whom? If admission numbers were still unknown.

The second illustration is on the distribution of textbooks for grade ten learners. You may have heard the repeated complaints by learners and teachers that they have yet to receive books to achieve the desired rate of one book per learner. The explanations have been diverse.

But Professor Charles Ongondo, the CEO at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development, the body responsible for book distribution, told the forum that they are using data as provided in October 2025. Data from last year, when Grade 10 learners were in Grade nine. Meaning, KICD has no visibility of how many learners have been admitted to which schools, the pathways, and the subjects they are taking, which would allow reconciliation of records and subsequent distribution of required materials. He even gave an example of a school in Wajir that has consistently failed to provide the data despite persistent requests.

Back to the school fires, a third illustration. For 18 years, the Ministry of Education has maintained a safety standards manual for schools. The reality that 'Melina Waithera' dormitory in Utumishi Girls was not compliant with the standards is evident to anyone who has seen CCTV footage from the night of the tragedy. When asked how come the ministry was not aware despite maintaining hundreds of quality assurance and standards officers, CS Ogamba said that a review report of the institution had yet to be submitted to Jogoo House. Utumishi is in Gilgil, some 122 kilometres from Jogoo House, but within an hour’s drive from the Nakuru County Education office.

To the fourth and final illustration: For over a week, Citizen TV was involved in a back-and-forth with the ministry about KCSE 2025 results data for Wajir County in an attempt to verify. A lot of it didn’t make sense, and questions were raised ahead of time. On the night of the forum, it was difficult to rely on two sets of data provided by the Ministry of Education, sourced from the field officers. It ended with the quote, “we will look into the data and provide the correct position”.

Now, those four cases signal some serious systemic gaps in one of the most important sectors of the country. 

What do field officers in the ministry do? When they report to offices early morning, what do they focus their minds on? How long would it take a county team to move around schools to check their safety standards, make comments and inform Jogoo House of recommended action?

And when the Kenya National Examination Council releases results for national exams or assessments, what do field officers from the county and sub-county levels do with those results? Isn’t it one of the best metrics of work done? What analyses do those officers conduct? How much of that informs action? How often do they consult with Jogoo House over what needs to be done?

You see, if the country is to progress to desired developed country status, we cannot conduct the business of education so loosely.

Education costs the country upwards of 28 per cent of the national revenue, over Ksh.700 billion for the public sector. A country cannot afford a lacklustre attitude in the sector for such a heavy investment. 

It cannot be an acceptable culture to respond just when tragedy strikes. It cannot catch officers in the entire chain of education by surprise when dormitories are not structured to standard. And when a government piles pressure on schools to admit learners with or without school fees, sometimes beyond capacity, the burden cannot shift to the admitting principals when tragedy arrives. And those in the sector cannot plead ignorance without consequences.

Sense must guide decision-making. Sense must guide actions.