Senators demand withdrawal of circular on early childhood education training

Senators have demanded the withdrawal of a circular merging Diploma in Early Childhood Teacher Education with Diploma in Primary Teacher Education, terming it an attempt to kill early childhood education training in the country.

The Senators accused Basic Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok of coming up with the circular merging the two courses to become Diploma in Teacher Education and the discontinuation of the Upgrade in Early Childhood in Teacher Education, saying it will erode gains made in the education sector.

Stakeholders who appeared before the Senate Education Committee Chaired by Nominated Senator Betty Montet said that Early Childhood Education is the most mismanaged and discriminated education sector in the country.

“The Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba should withdraw this circular immediately, the Principal Secretary for Basic Education should come and explain to us why he unilaterally decided to come up with this circular without consulting stakeholders,” said Kajiado Senator Lenku Seki.

Nominated Senator Catherine Mumma said the Senate needs to officially write a letter to Prof Bitok to withdraw the circular and the Council of Governors should have moved to court to challenge the matter that has been in force for the last two weeks.

Machakos Senator Kavindu Muthama wondered whether such a decision meant well for the education sector in the country and challenged the PS to come out clear on whose interests he was serving by such an unpopular move.

Muthama said the directive should have been arrived at after consultations with all stakeholders.

Laikipia Senator John Kinyua said that being an educationist Bitok should know better before making such a drastic decision that is bound to affect thousands of students who joined college in September 2025.

“I would like to urge my colleagues not to politicise this matter since the Senate Education Committee is going to address it, we are going to stand with the stakeholders whose interests must be safeguarded at all times, that is why we are engaging everyone concerned,” said Montet.

Council of Governor Education Committee Chairperson Erick Mutai said the circular is a deliberate way of killing devolution since the 47 county administrations have invested heavily in the ECDE sector and the decision would have a huge financial implication.

The Kericho Governor raised concern that the circular was released on January 19, 2026 yet the first intake of the trainees was in September 2024 and the directive was not only unfair to the students but their families that sponsor their education.

“We are concerned that there will be an erosion of the specialisation that differentiates preschool education from primary education which may result in a reduction in the quality of learning for preschool children,” said Dr Mutai.

The Kericho Governor argued that the Diploma in ECDE should continue in order to ensure quality, professionalism and international credibility or Kenya’s early childhood education sector.

He said that while education reforms are necessary for the smooth implementation of CBE they must reserve pedagogical specialisation and professional integrity.

The governor told the committee that the Council of Governors wants the Diploma in ECDE Teacher Education retained as a separate specialised qualification aligned with both county and national expectations and the establishment of county based ECDE training centres.

 “If the merger is done without an evaluation and differentiation on the two levels of education Kenya stands to lose the quality of early learning and training affected by the lack of specialized ECDE training and the global recognition of ECDE qualifications,” said Mutai.

Dr John Ngasike, a senior lecturer for Early Childhood Development and Education in Maseno University who presented a petition on behalf of the Early Childhood Professional Association of Kenya before the Senate said the directive will dilute the specialised three-year ECDE teacher training.

Dr Ngasike said that the merging of the two diplomas will undermine the pedagogical philosophy of ECDE that is child centred hands on play based learning and contravene the 2010 Constitution.

The Maseno University lecturer emphasized that even though the training of teachers is the function of the Ministry of Education the quality of training is crucial and should be matched with the level of learning of the children.

“Fragmenting training of teachers is likely to limit their impact on children learning outcomes as ECDE teachers may not acquire the necessary skills in both subject content and pedagogical practices, the competency based education framework categorises the new levels of competence based education as 2– 6– 6 –3,” said Dr Ngasike.