Govt set to improve standards of education in the country

The Ministry of Education is set to revamp the operations of the Quality Assurance and Standards to enable it to effectively coordinate and supervise compliance of schools with the established standards of education. 

This is provided in a draft National Education Quality Assurance and Standards Framework for Basic Education Institutions (NEQASF) it has prepared through a consultative process.

The framework was presented at a National Validation Workshop at the Kenya Institute for Curriculum Development (KICD) on Friday.

NEQASF provides an approach for assessing, monitoring, evaluating and feedback mechanism intended to improve service delivery at school level and the quality of learning outcomes based on evidence and good practice.

The Principal Secretary for Early learning and Basic Education, Dr. Belio Kipsang said the NEQASF had introduced for the first time, Institutional Based Quality assurance (IBQA) saying it will strengthen Quality Assurance at the school levels.

In a speech read on his behalf by the Director for Secondary education Mr. Paul Kibet, Dr. Kipsang said IBQA will require schools to use the school assessment tool to evaluate and judge the quality of their practice and its impact on learners’ outcomes.

The acting Director for Quality Assurance and Standards, Dr. Mary Gaturu said the Ministry wants to re-engineer structures responsible for ensuring compliance with the requisite standards for efficient and effective service delivery at the school level.

The Department of Quality Assurance and Standards in the Ministry is charged with among others, ensure standards and maintain quality in institutions of basic education, administer policies and guidelines set for basic education, supervise and oversee curriculum implementation and delivery, monitor and evaluate standards and quality in basic education and in cooperation with county education, monitor the conduct of assessments and examinations in institutions of basic education.