What Became of Free Education?

Byline: Samuel Siringi

For a docket that raised the hopes of many Kenyans about taking more than two million out-of-school children back to class a few years ago, the Education ministry owes the public an explanation for the rather lacklustre handling of key programmes.

Increasingly, the ministry is making news for the wrong reasons, including failing to deal with even the most mundane of its activities. This includes stopping the administration of banned school mock exams and holiday tuition.

The ministry's troubles hit a peak recently when courts stepped in to put brakes on a teacher recruitment, which the ministry headquarters planned to steer instead of …