Parents and political leaders should desist from meddling in management of schools and instead give management and their representatives to do their job, Education CS Fred Matiang’i has said.
Speaking at Sironga Girls on Friday, Matiangi said many schools were struggling to perform in national exams due to unprecedented pressure from leaders and parents directed to school administrators.
“Sometimes parents and members of political leadership are unfair to our school administrators. They subject them to unprecedented pressure which makes them panic and hence be unable to manage their institutions well. It’s my advice that parents and leaders use right channels to air their grievances rather than threatening and intimidating schools heads,” Matiang’i said.
He urged education directors to ignore pressure from politicians who were out to push for transfers of school heads whom they tend to disagree with on matters management.
“There is a reason we have parents representatives to schools but sometimes it hurts that politicians normally wage a war against school heads that tend to differ with them on matters management. County directors of education must be very keen to ensure our teachers work in a favorable environment,” he added.
He challenged school heads to report cases of external interference to his ministry for an action but also insisted that his ministry will not hesitate to solve standoffs between school managers and parents.
“It’s not always that school heads are right but there is a channel of airing grievances. That’s why I challenge them to reports cases of external interference so that the ministry arbitrates for the good of our children. Otherwise, the ministry condemns external interferences of management of our institutions because it’s detrimental to performance,” he said.