Education PS Belio Kipsang’ is an experienced bureaucrat and a man of great learning.
But in a most uncharacteristic fashion he, on Tuesday, shocked the entire nation when he announced that, starting January, no new student should be admitted to a primary boarding school.
He will have failed to consider the effort and cash spent by entrepreneurs who have collectively borrowed billions to set up the schools.
The policy shift he announced has such far-reaching effects socially and economically; he should have conducted thorough public participation.
The change he envisages cannot be the subject of such an offhand declaration.
He might have realised, had there been public participation, that there is a large number of students whose parents live abroad on account of professional obligations, but have opted to educate their children in boarding schools.
And in any event, the ministry did not put out a detailed dossier as to how the change will affect public and private schools.
Parents and stakeholders have been left to speculate about the details of what the ministry means.
We live in a free market economy in which private enterprise is highly encouraged. Besides, the ministry has not made clear the problem the change is curing.
The announcement, it seems, is the creation of bureaucrats who believe in a nanny state in which government knows best what is best for its citizens.
This is a misguided and blanket policy change that should be abandoned.
Quote of the Day: “The need to magnify themselves, to bestir themselves, is characteristic of all illegitimates.”
JOACHIM FEST
ThE German historian and journalist was born on December 8, 1926
