Basic Education Principal Secretary (PS) Prof. Julius Bitok has called upon senators to exercise their oversight mandate to ensure that all the 47 county governments roll out effective Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE).
Speaking on Thursday, February 27, during the Senate Assessment and Planning Retreat held in Naivasha, PS Bitok told the Senators that by virtue of the 2010 Constitution entrusting ECDEs to county governments, they are essentially the ultimate guardians of the four million Kenyan children currently enroled in pre-primary centres.
“We have a duty of care to provide reasonable infrastructure and dignity in our ECDE centres,” PS Bitok said. “Regrettably, pre-primary learning in some counties is still being held under trees or in dilapidated structures.”
Hence, PS Bitok urged the senators to crack the whip in ensuring that County Integrated Development Plans (CIDPs) prioritise the construction of child-friendly, safe, and modern ECDE centres.
“We must also put our house in order in the important matter of our ECDE teachers. The current status of many of our ECDE teachers is unacceptable,” PS Bitok added.
He rued that many counties, the common norm is delayed salaries, lack of pension schemes, and a “take-it-or-leave-it” ‘volunteer’ mentality toward ECDE professionals. “An unhappy teacher cannot be entrusted with nurturing a child’s mind.”
The Senate, he urged, should prioritise pushing for the harmonization of schemes of service.
“We need to abandon stop-gap, short-term contracts to terms that attract and retain competent, well-trained professionals. I dare say the National Government is already holding the how-to candle on this. County governments should match that energy at the entry point of our education system.”
School feeding programmes
The PS also stressed on the issue of providing food to pre-primary learners, insisting that “you cannot teach a hungry child”.
Some counties like Nairobi, Kiambu and Murang’a have rolled impressive school feeding programmes for ECDE learners, while others have nor provision at all.
PS Bitok says the current situation creates a ‘lottery of birth’ where a child’s nutritional health depends on the county of birth or residency.
“I urge the Senate to advocate for a National-County Nutritional Framework that guarantees at least one fortified meal a day for every ECDE learner across all 47 counties.”
The framers of the 2010 Constitution placed ECDE under the care of county governments, with the intention to bring the most critical stage of human development closest to the people.
However, PS Bitok noted that there exists a policy disconnect between the ECDE-level managed by counties and the primary level managed by the National Government.
The long-term solution to this, he proposed, would be in establishing start-to-finish comprehensive basic education schools.
He, therefore, told the Senate to support the education sector by insisting on and causing the implementation of a uniform curriculum across the CBE, supporting operationalisation of KEMIS to create a reliable, integrated and trackable data and in equitable resource allocation and accountable utilisation especially in ASAL and urban-poor regions.
He also lauded the proposed Basic Education (Amendment) Bill, 2025, sponsored by Mathare MP Anthony Oluoch, which he says will form a tangible legal framework that is clearer on the roles of the national and county governments in education.
“I therefore appeal to Members to give the Bill the attention it deserves when the right time comes,” he implored the senators.
