The Ministry of Education on going implementation of the National Information System (NEMIS) is to be lauded as a positive measure to streamline and infuse transparency and accountability in the management of primary and secondary school education in Kenya.
Yes, there may be hurdles, challenges here and there at this initial stage of rolling out the system but all stakeholders in the education sector must be patient and tolerant. We must look at the bigger picture, the benefits the system will usher in as regards the management of our education at primary, secondary and tertiary level.
First and foremost the NEMIS system will facilitate accuracy of all learners enrolled across the country and so that resources are correctly and accurately allocated especially for free tuition and learning materials. It ought to eliminate guesswork, ghost learners and where corruption thrives. It will equally enables tracking of learners who are in school and those who drop out.
Most importantly, the system will help weed out widespread corruption in admission of form one students where principals were literally auctioning to the highest bidder places inform one after initial selection.
It is laughable for trade unionists and elected leaders to oppose the NEMIS system for the sake of opposing. The march of technology will not be stopped by those who are romantic with the old analogue way of things that was a goldmine for corruption and opaqueness. Digitalization is one of the most effective ways to combat corruption, impunity, bad governance be it in our schools or other public institution.
The teaching profession is supposed to be the light of society, the trailblazer of new ways of doing things. It therefore beats logic that in Kenya we seem to have this strange scenario where teachers want to stand in the way of learning of our society embracing technology, our society using technology to tackle old problems of misgovernance, corruption, inefficiencies. How can teachers be serious that they want to be trained to teach a new syllabus? They ought to self-learn having been professionally trained how to teach during their training before entering the teaching profession.
Yes, let us embrace technology to make our country better. The question is never technology, the question is that the technology must be used appropriately, honestly and for the good of society. The education sector will continue to be in the eye storm of change and it were best if all those in that space learned to embrace and ride the wave of positive change.