Seek ethnic balance, schools urged

Schools have been asked to ensure ethnic balance in staffing.

Both Higher Education assistant minister Kilemi Mwiria and Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission chief Patrick Lumumba say it was dangerous for schools to be dominated by staff from one ethnic community.

“We can’t have national unity if school management is localised and all the teachers that teach in primary and secondary schools come from the local village. I have argued this many times that we must get the management of our schools, not by the principals from the local communities, but by heads who come across the whole country,” Dr Mwiria told the national secondary schools student leaders’ conference at the Bomas of Kenya Wednesday.

As the conference entered the third day, the call to unite against corruption and tribalism was reinforced by Dr Mwiria and Prof Lumumba, who cautioned that the twin ills could derail the gains made after the adoption of the new Constitution.

Recently, the National Cohesion and Integration Commission released its ethnic audit of the Civil Service.

The study found that the Kikuyu and Kalenjin communities dominate Civil Service jobs. The most affected institutions are State House, Office of the Prime Minister, Local Government, Transport, Public Service, Higher Education, Tourism and Nairobi Metropolitan ministries.

Political patronage

The report blamed the rot on political patronage from State House since independence.

Dr Mwiria said the report did not dwell much on schools.

He argued the rationalisation of staffing in schools would ensure their management reflected the ethnic diversity in Kenya.

“Let us have a system where we support our teachers to be nationalists, especially now that we are going to have many national schools,” he said.

About 100 national schools are to be established to tackle the quota system of admission opposed by private academies.

With the national schools expected to accommodate students from all parts of the country, Dr Mwiria reckoned that there was no point in a student going to a school, say in Marsabit, only to find all the teachers were from the local community.

“The schools must first reflect that national outlook before they begin to bring in students from other parts of the country,” he said.

According to Prof Lumumba, the need to rethink ethnic composition of the teaching staff in schools was overdue.

“Today I cast my lot with my friend, Dr Mwiria, when I say that as we look at building a new Kenya we must re-engineer our education system. The only way to build Kenya is to ensure that people know and appreciate diversity,” he said.

Student leaders, he said, should embrace the values enshrined in the new Constitution to maintain peace and promote good governance.