Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha on Friday, July 31, asked Universities to lay-off excess staff by 2021, to solve the cash-crunch plaguing learning institutions.
Speaking during Egerton's 42 Graduation Ceremony that was held virtually, the CS highligted that the current status across universities was untenable.
“If VCs decide to create more management positions, there will be financial implications which may not be necessary. Just like in the international arena, 70% of staff should be academic staff and 30 percent non-teaching staff," he remarked.
CS Magoha was responding to a request by Egerton Vice Chancellor Rose Mwonya to have the Ministry push for a sort of bailout plan for learning institutions.
However, the Education CS was adamant that Universities could solve their issues if they looked inwards.
“Egerton’s area of strength is agriculture [so don’t tell me] you can’t survive. You’re teaching agriculture people and you have the land. Do you want to go to Israel and get people to do it for you? I don’t have any sympathetic words,” he said.
He further added that the government is not God, going on to point out that his message was not only for Egerton but all public universities in the country.
In regards to essential staff who were underperforming, he tasked the VC with rooting them out as well, citing that it was a strategy that he had used effectively during his tenure as VC at the University of Nairobi.
Learning institutions have been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, with the entire 2020 calendar being scrapped off.
A day earlier, CS Magoha stated that a survey of all TTCs, Universities and TVET institutions had shown that few of them had put in place necessary measures to comply with the Ministry of Health’s Covid-19 protocols that could guarantee safety of staff and learners once they reopen.
He further announced that colleges and universities would remain closed until January 2021.
