The NASA coalition party of Kenya on Tuesday 27th June 2017 launched its Manifesto ahead of the 8th August 2017 coalition. Below is what they promised in the education sector (Basic, Secondary and Higher Education). Complete manifesto NASA manifesto available in this page.

 

 

Education

Education is the primary engine of both economic growth and social mobility. A society which makes quality education available to all is guaranteed equitable development. A society where quality education is the preserve of the rich undermines economic growth and guarantees itself inequality.
We as a Nation have enshrined the right to education in Article 43 of Constitution. The right to education is recognized as essential to achieving all the other rights, particularly political and civil rights. The right to education has three pillars namely;

• free and compulsory primary education,
• progressive achievement of universal secondary education
• equitable access to tertiary education
• As a Coalition that is committed to implementing our Constitution, the NASA Government is
• committed to the realization of the right to education as follows:

Basic Education

Through the free primary education (FPE) introduced by the NARC government in 2003, we have achieved the first pillar of the right to education. We are able to maintain close to 100 percent primary school enrollment. But many challenges of infrastructure and quality remain. The NASA Government will ensure – delegating school infrastructure to the Counties— giving conditional grants.

Secondary School Education

The Jubilee Government years have been a total loss for education. Our progress towards realization of the right to education remains where the NARC and Grand Coalition government left it. Only half the children who complete primary school are proceeding to secondary school, and close to a quarter of those are not completing secondary school. In effect, only a third of the cohort that completes primary is completing secondary school. NASA Coalition has set the goal of achieving universal secondary education within the next decade by;

• Arresting the high secondary school dropout rate, NASA will implement free secondary education immediately on assuming office.
• Expanding secondary school infrastructure with a target of closing the gap between primary school leavers and Form 1 places in the next five years.
• Expanding teacher training capacity to ensure maintenance of the appropriate teacher student ratio.
• Achieving this will make the primary school examinations (KCPE) redundant since every child will be assured a place. The culture and terminology of “failures” and “drop out” will be a thing of the past. No child should be condemned to this stigma by an examination whose only purpose is to eliminate those who it does not have school places for.

Higher Education

Considerable progress has been made in expanding access to higher education, particularly university education. Still, higher education in Kenya reflects the system of privilege for the better off in society. A truly equitable education system is one where no child is disadvantaged or advantaged by social background, i.e. education attainment and achievement reflects only the person’s ability and effort. The NASA Government is committed to this ideal. NASA government will pursue this commitment by;

• Progressively expanding higher education loans, presently limited to universities, to cover all post-secondary education institutions including TIVET.
• Pursuing innovative ways of financing higher education infrastructure, including Public Private Partnership and education bonds.
• Implementing the provision of the Education Act 2012 viz. ensuring that there is at least one public university in every county.
• Increasing research funding for universities and strengthening the linkages between university research and the socio-economic development of the counties where they are located.
• NASA is alive to the plight of fresh graduates who are required to produce HELB loan compliance certificates before they can be considered for employment. This requirement is unreasonable as graduates from poor families cannot afford to service the loans, and yet failing to do so denies them a chance to get employment. The NASA government will review the HELB loan terms with a view to removing this penalty.

Complete manifesto NASA manifesto available in this page.

NASA Coalition party official websites: https://nasacoalition.com

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