Kenya County Government Workers Union has joined governors in rejecting a proposal to transfer management of Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) teachers from counties to the national government.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Secretary-General Roba Duba noted that since independence, pre-school or nursery school has been under the defunct local government authorities.
He said the Constitution of Kenya Fourth Schedule, article 2(a) on the functions and powers of the county governments provides for devolved units being responsible for pre-primary education, village polytechnics and child care facilities.
He said the recommendation by the Presidential Working Party on Education Reform (PWPER) to transfer the function back to the national government is in contravention of the Constitution.
“For the avoidance of doubt, it may require a referendum in order to revert this function to national government which would not be economically feasible considering the current state of affairs,” Duba said.
He said the team went out of its way to transfer ECDE to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
“TSC is overburdened, it has enough to deal with already. Do not suggest additional functions which are irrelevant to the commission,” he said.
On January 10, the Council of Governors rejected proposals terming them as a clawback on devolution.
CoG’s Education Committee chaired by Governor Eric Mutai rejected a proposal to have the Ministry of Education and TSC jointly develop an intergovernmental framework for hiring pre-primary teachers as unacceptable.
“We note that there is no accountability framework provided for the proposed Head of Institutions to the Counties regarding the management of Pre-primary schools,” he stated.
The task force placed ECDE centres under primary school heads appointed by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
Mutai said hiring of pre-primary teachers is a preserve of devolved units as reiterated in the judgment in the High Court ruling in the case of KNUT vs.
The Attorney General and 4 others (2016) clarified the powers of the County Governments in hiring pre-primary teachers.