Uhuru taps Julius Jwan to replace Kipsang as Education PS

President Uhuru Kenyatta has elevated Vocational Training Principal Secretary Dr. Julius Jwan to replace long-serving Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang who has served for eight years since the Jubilee administration came into power. Kipsang has been moved to the State Department of Regional Development as the PS in charge of Regional and Northern Corridor Development

The changes come after reports emerged that the CS for Education is staring at a Crisis in schools with the commencement of the implementation of the Competence Based Curriculum (CBC).

The responsibility to ensure seamless implementation of CBC will now fall on Dr. Jwan, a curriculum expert who led the conceptualization of CBC during his tenure as the CEO of the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development. The President has also roped in the Chairperson of Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development Dr. Jane Ruto who comes into the Ministry as Chief Administrative Secretary replacing Mr. Zack Kinuthia who has been moved to the Ministry of Sports.

The President is keen to ensure a successful rollout of the CBC and recently unveiled a new state department for Implementation of Curriculum Reforms to oversee its ongoing implementation.

“We are at a tipping-point in our education system. The old must give way to the new. The summons of our times requires us to re-imagine how we have educated our children. It requires us to be bold, and not rigid. It calls us to imagine a system that creates responsible citizens as opposed to subjects; a system that celebrates the creative potential of all our children as opposed to one that leaves them with labels of failure, if they do not pass exams; “And a system that brings about freedom as opposed to conformity. This is the promise of the Competency Based Curriculum,” the President said.

Before joining the Ministry of Edcation, Dr. Julius Jwan was the Director – Programmes and Technical Services at the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC). He has worked as a lecturer at Moi University rising from the position of a Tutorial Fellow to Senior Lecturer. Prior to joining Moi University, he was a teacher at Ongalo Secondary School and Kaimosi Teachers’ Training College.

Dr. Jwan holds a PhD Degree in Educational Leadership & Management from the UK. He also holds a Master of Science (MSc) Degree in Educational Research Methods-from the UK; a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) Degree in Education Communication & Management from Norway and another Master Degree in Linguistics from Moi University – Kenya where he also graduated with a Bachelor of Education Degree.

Dr. Jwan has published widely on educational leadership and management in international journals and book chapters. He has also published three books – two on educational leadership and management, and one on research methods. He is a winner of the Best Doctoral Thesis Award by the British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society (BELMAS) in 2011. 

According to a circular issued by Head of Public Services Joseph Kinyua on Wednesday the changes necessitated by the need to set the foundation for building back better from the shocks of covid19 pandemic are meant to foster operational efficiency, institutionalize and expedite the implementation of various ground-breaking reforms, and introduce functional changes that shall make Ministries and State Departments more effective and better able to deliver on their mandates.

The changes also saw the merger of the State Department for Mining with the State Department for Petroleum into a single State Department within the Ministry of Petroleum & Mining.