President Uhuru Kenyatta has directed the Education ministry to let the management of schools originally managed by churches revert to the different faiths, a move that could take the education system decades back.
The President also directed that ownership of the land on which church-built schools stand be given to the churches, meaning the government will no longer be the custodian of such property.
But the directive is replete with legal and logistical challenges. Many churches can no longer afford to run schools like they did before and immediately after Independence.
The schools were taken over by the government following the enactment of the Education Act, 1968, which sought to the implement the recommendations of the Kenya Education Commission headed by Prof Simeon Ominde, among them that all schools be managed by the government.
