Jessica Alupo's vision for education
JESSICA Alupo was last week appointed minister of education and sports. At 37 years of age, Alupo takes over one of the most instrumental and heavily funded ministries in the country, taking up about sh1.4 trillion of the national budget. <b>Conan Businge</b> talked to the new minister about her pla
JESSICA Alupo was last week appointed minister of education and sports. At 37 years of age, Alupo takes over one of the most instrumental and heavily funded ministries in the country, taking up about sh1.4 trillion of the national budget. Conan Businge talked to the new minister about her plans to transform the education sector.
You were recently appointed education and sports minister. Did you see this coming?
It was a pleasant surprise to me. The President had earlier on appointed me state minister for youth and I served in that post with diligence and loyalty. I made sure I executed my job effectively. But little did I know I would be placed in the ministry of education. I thought I would be kept as state minister for youth and children affairs, or be transferred somewhere else as a junior minister. I will still serve in this ministry to my best. I thank the President for having trusted me and I will offer him and the country my best.
The education ministry takes a lion’s share of the national budget. But this ministry is still riddled with several challenges. How do you plan to fix them?
At times we grumble that our ministry budgets are small. But what have we done with the small budgets we have? We must learn to work with whatever we are offered, to get results. The fact that the education ministry receives so much money and is still having several unsolved issues still comes to the same thing — how much effort has been put in to use the available resources to overcome the enormous task?
I will cooperate with the technical team of the ministry to overcome the challenges facing the ministry. I ask them to be frank with me, and I will also be frank with them. The biggest challenge with working with people at times, is the continuous growth of suspicion; which must not arise in this case. We must be open to each other.
As ministers we are always there to offer direction for the ministry and lead the team. All the available funds, no matter the amount, must reach the intended beneficiaries.
Universal Primary Education started 14 years back, but it is still bogged with a high drop-out rate, high teacher attrition rates and declining quality of graduates; among other issues. What are you planning to do, to quickly avert this trend?
Free primary education still has challenges, but we have gained a lot from the effort put in by the ministry and the Government in offering free education in this country. We have attained enormous results and steps as a country, which we would never have got without free education. We will put right what has gone wrong and still move on perfectly.
We need model UPE and USE schools which can always be used as examples for other schools in the country. With proper management of schools by stakeholders, we should have excellent free education. We should stop the blame game, and all stakeholders must take responsibility if we are to effectively build this country’s education system.
We have departments in the ministry of education which should directly check the quality of education. I will need to often liaise with them, to make sure there are tremendous steps taken in improving the country’s quality of education.
A section of teachers, parents, educationists and researchers have argued that without the Government’s provision of free lunch in free primary and secondary schools, the quality of education will remain low, and drop-out rate will remain high? Would you support their ideology?
It is true that when I child misses lunch, he or she is not likely to perform well in class. The child will be hungry, dozing in class and concentration will be low. But as of today, it will remain impossible for the Government to directly offer lunch in schools.
We need to have funds for construction of roads, hospitals and other development projects in the country, before we think of giving food to millions of pupils and students in the country. Parents must know that by law, they are required to provide lunch to their pupils. I went to a primary school, where pupils used to pack food and the head teacher was only concerned about the clean water for drinking.
We were paying fees and packing lunch! Why can’t parents pack food today? The education ministry has one of the highest budgets meant to provide education to children, not lunch. Parents should know that they are making a mistake not to give their children lunch at school. It is the children’s right to have that food, from their parents!
But I think the ministry of internal affairs must come in to know what has gone wrong and devise mechanisms.
There is a growing concern that the country’s curriculum is not relevant to the needs of the country today; what should be done?
This is a pertinent concern to me. It is one of the issues we have been grappling with for all these years. In the Ministry of Youth and Children Affairs, we have been preparing a paper on youth unemployment, looking at one of the issues as the need for skills development. It is time we revisited our country’s entire education curriculum. Even the revised curriculum in place needs to be adjusted to the current trends; for graduates to get skills to get jobs. But we need to also pay attention to the attitudes of our students.
What is your take on shoddy construction works in Government schools?
Of late, the Government has done a lot in halting shoddy constructions in schools all over the country. The Government is dealing with the culprits and they will be no more.
But, I was of recent thinking about these shoddy works and I think that there is need to have the Ministry of Local Government working more closely with the Ministry of Education and Sports. Such contractors who set up shoddy buildings must be banned and penalised. When I start work, I will see how best we can resolve this quickly.
Is it not time that the country shifted from the ‘examinations only’ system of assessing students, to ‘continuous assessment’?
It is a great aspect and I know it would yield better results. That is what is even done in the army, to progressively monitor one’s performance in aspects of his or her life. But we still have so many challenges in the ministry. We are still suffering with standards and quality of education in the country. It is nice to have continuous assessment, but in a short term, I think there are more issues we need to look at before we switch to other equally important aspects of our education system.
What do you think of the increase in teachers’ houses and salaries, since a number of teachers think it is one of the issues Government needs to first pay attention to?
The teachers’ stay within school premises has the best results in improving their morale, students’ discipline and improving the quality of education in any given school. It has enormous advantages. The Government has not yet failed to construct teachers’ houses, and it is doing it in a steadfast process.
I know it may be one of the main issues in coming national budget of 2011/2011. On the teachers’ salaries, I would not like to comment about that now. In the due course, after studying the process and details, I will state my view.
Multitudes of students are streaming from free education and will soon overflow universities and tertiary institutions which are not enough. Which direction should the education ministry take on university education?
When this Government came to power, there was only one university in the country. There are now five public universities and several other private ones.
I am optimistic that with UPE and USE in place, the Government will establish new and expand existing public universities in the country. We will also make sure that we work closely with the private sector to maintain and improve the quality of education they are offering. Private universities must all conform to the set standards.
Is the students’ loan scheme a reality, and will it stand the test of time when most of the graduates it will churn out are likely to remain unemployed and unable to pay the loans?
The students’ loan scheme is a reality and it will soon be in place. Thousands of poor but bright students will manage to go to school, without suffering to get tuition.
Thereafter, they will pay back the money after graduating. But we have got to teach them the reality behind the scheme; they must know that if they do not pay back, someone is missing out on education. We will help the graduate to start projects and sustain them, to be able to pay back.
The students we produce must be skilled enough, not to look for jobs, but instead create jobs.
You were recently appointed education and sports minister. Did you see this coming?
It was a pleasant surprise to me. The President had earlier on appointed me state minister for youth and I served in that post with diligence and loyalty. I made sure I executed my job effectively. But little did I know I would be placed in the ministry of education. I thought I would be kept as state minister for youth and children affairs, or be transferred somewhere else as a junior minister. I will still serve in this ministry to my best. I thank the President for having trusted me and I will offer him and the country my best.
The education ministry takes a lion’s share of the national budget. But this ministry is still riddled with several challenges. How do you plan to fix them?
At times we grumble that our ministry budgets are small. But what have we done with the small budgets we have? We must learn to work with whatever we are offered, to get results. The fact that the education ministry receives so much money and is still having several unsolved issues still comes to the same thing — how much effort has been put in to use the available resources to overcome the enormous task?
I will cooperate with the technical team of the ministry to overcome the challenges facing the ministry. I ask them to be frank with me, and I will also be frank with them. The biggest challenge with working with people at times, is the continuous growth of suspicion; which must not arise in this case. We must be open to each other.
As ministers we are always there to offer direction for the ministry and lead the team. All the available funds, no matter the amount, must reach the intended beneficiaries.
Universal Primary Education started 14 years back, but it is still bogged with a high drop-out rate, high teacher attrition rates and declining quality of graduates; among other issues. What are you planning to do, to quickly avert this trend?
Free primary education still has challenges, but we have gained a lot from the effort put in by the ministry and the Government in offering free education in this country. We have attained enormous results and steps as a country, which we would never have got without free education. We will put right what has gone wrong and still move on perfectly.
We need model UPE and USE schools which can always be used as examples for other schools in the country. With proper management of schools by stakeholders, we should have excellent free education. We should stop the blame game, and all stakeholders must take responsibility if we are to effectively build this country’s education system.
We have departments in the ministry of education which should directly check the quality of education. I will need to often liaise with them, to make sure there are tremendous steps taken in improving the country’s quality of education.
A section of teachers, parents, educationists and researchers have argued that without the Government’s provision of free lunch in free primary and secondary schools, the quality of education will remain low, and drop-out rate will remain high? Would you support their ideology?
It is true that when I child misses lunch, he or she is not likely to perform well in class. The child will be hungry, dozing in class and concentration will be low. But as of today, it will remain impossible for the Government to directly offer lunch in schools.
We need to have funds for construction of roads, hospitals and other development projects in the country, before we think of giving food to millions of pupils and students in the country. Parents must know that by law, they are required to provide lunch to their pupils. I went to a primary school, where pupils used to pack food and the head teacher was only concerned about the clean water for drinking.
We were paying fees and packing lunch! Why can’t parents pack food today? The education ministry has one of the highest budgets meant to provide education to children, not lunch. Parents should know that they are making a mistake not to give their children lunch at school. It is the children’s right to have that food, from their parents!
But I think the ministry of internal affairs must come in to know what has gone wrong and devise mechanisms.
There is a growing concern that the country’s curriculum is not relevant to the needs of the country today; what should be done?
This is a pertinent concern to me. It is one of the issues we have been grappling with for all these years. In the Ministry of Youth and Children Affairs, we have been preparing a paper on youth unemployment, looking at one of the issues as the need for skills development. It is time we revisited our country’s entire education curriculum. Even the revised curriculum in place needs to be adjusted to the current trends; for graduates to get skills to get jobs. But we need to also pay attention to the attitudes of our students.
What is your take on shoddy construction works in Government schools?
Of late, the Government has done a lot in halting shoddy constructions in schools all over the country. The Government is dealing with the culprits and they will be no more.
But, I was of recent thinking about these shoddy works and I think that there is need to have the Ministry of Local Government working more closely with the Ministry of Education and Sports. Such contractors who set up shoddy buildings must be banned and penalised. When I start work, I will see how best we can resolve this quickly.
Is it not time that the country shifted from the ‘examinations only’ system of assessing students, to ‘continuous assessment’?
It is a great aspect and I know it would yield better results. That is what is even done in the army, to progressively monitor one’s performance in aspects of his or her life. But we still have so many challenges in the ministry. We are still suffering with standards and quality of education in the country. It is nice to have continuous assessment, but in a short term, I think there are more issues we need to look at before we switch to other equally important aspects of our education system.
What do you think of the increase in teachers’ houses and salaries, since a number of teachers think it is one of the issues Government needs to first pay attention to?
The teachers’ stay within school premises has the best results in improving their morale, students’ discipline and improving the quality of education in any given school. It has enormous advantages. The Government has not yet failed to construct teachers’ houses, and it is doing it in a steadfast process.
I know it may be one of the main issues in coming national budget of 2011/2011. On the teachers’ salaries, I would not like to comment about that now. In the due course, after studying the process and details, I will state my view.
Multitudes of students are streaming from free education and will soon overflow universities and tertiary institutions which are not enough. Which direction should the education ministry take on university education?
When this Government came to power, there was only one university in the country. There are now five public universities and several other private ones.
I am optimistic that with UPE and USE in place, the Government will establish new and expand existing public universities in the country. We will also make sure that we work closely with the private sector to maintain and improve the quality of education they are offering. Private universities must all conform to the set standards.
Is the students’ loan scheme a reality, and will it stand the test of time when most of the graduates it will churn out are likely to remain unemployed and unable to pay the loans?
The students’ loan scheme is a reality and it will soon be in place. Thousands of poor but bright students will manage to go to school, without suffering to get tuition.
Thereafter, they will pay back the money after graduating. But we have got to teach them the reality behind the scheme; they must know that if they do not pay back, someone is missing out on education. We will help the graduate to start projects and sustain them, to be able to pay back.
The students we produce must be skilled enough, not to look for jobs, but instead create jobs.