NAIROBI MARCH 11, 2016 (CISA) – Dr Fred Matiang’i, Cabinet Secretary of Education has called on the Church and government to strengthen their partnership in the education sector in order to provide quality education for all children.
“We have to create and sustain a strong partnership to be able to provide education for our people. That is the reason why we must listen to one another and work together,” said Dr Matiang’i on March 8 during the just concluded Catholic Private Educational Institutions Associations (CaPEIA) Conference at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA).
The CS noted that the Catholic Church is “the government’s greatest partner in the education sector in our country” and supports over 1,000 educational institutions in the country and singularly there is no other faith based organization that supports that number of institutions.
He stated that the partnership should continue because there is no government anywhere on earth which by itself is able to provide education to all its citizens without support.
“If government took the responsibility of educating its people on its own we will not succeed, we have to work with you. Our resources are finite and our demands are many. It’s only because faith based organizations such as yourselves have come on board that we able to provide education to our people.”
He further said that the conference is evidence of the Church’s seriousness and focus in not just providing and supporting education, but most importantly also working with government to take education to the next level. Speaking during the same event Bishop Maurice Makumba, Chairman Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) Commission for Education and Religious Education said the Church supplement’s the government in area of education.
The Bishop who is the patron of CaPEIA said the conference helped to address issues affecting education in the country, notably issues affecting the role of the Church in the country such as anomalies in the registration of Catholic private schools, issuance of title deeds for public sponsored Catholic schools and examination cheating which he said it has reached critical levels.
“The serious problem of cheating in national examinations is a matter that worries all of us… we need to address it conclusively in order for us to be a nation that trusts and works on issues with integrity,” said Bishop Muhatia of the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru.
The four day conference March 8-11 was attended by managers and administrators of private Catholic Schools under the theme “Catholic School – A Place to Encounter Jesus Christ, the Compassion Teacher. Be Merciful just as your Father is merciful.”
CaPEIA brings together nursery schools, primary, high school and colleges run by the Catholic Church in Kenya.
