Devolution: Distinguish Education Policy, Primary and Pre-Primary Roles

Devolution: read the education assignments precisely

The word “education” covers different activities and institutions. A proposal about curricula is not the same reading task as a proposal about a primary school or pre-primary education. To compare national and county roles, start with the exact function and then locate the relevant part of the Constitution’s Fourth Schedule.

This lesson uses fictional proposal cards to practise constitutional source reading. It does not decide a real funding dispute, identify an employer or promise a government service. The selected constitutional text was checked on 6 October 2026. The examples are educational analysis, not legal advice.

Find the right part, item and activity

The Fourth Schedule has separate parts for the national government and county governments. Part 1 items 15–16 contain national education assignments; Part 2 item 9 identifies county education and care functions. The numbers are source locators, not rankings of importance.

Use the KLRC versions of Part 1 and Part 2. The County Assembly of Nakuru’s public Constitution copy provides the articles and schedule together. The matrix below selects only the functions needed for this exercise.

The matrix is selective, not an exhaustive restatement of items 15–16 or the education system. For example, item 15 also names standards, examinations and university charters. Do not infer that an omitted category is absent from the Constitution. Equally, do not use a modern institution’s informal name as proof that it belongs to a particular constitutional category.

Worked proposal 1: a curriculum reference guide

Fictional proposal card: A classroom committee is sorting activities for a display. One card describes preparing an education-policy and curriculum reference guide. Another learner assigns it to the county column simply because local learners would use it.

Analysis: Classify the specified function rather than the location of its audience. Education policy and curricula are named in Part 1 item 15. The source-supported answer therefore points to the national assignment for that function.

This does not mean that a local classroom cannot discuss curricula or that every person contributing an idea becomes a national official. The task asks which constitutional assignment the card describes. Keep that question distinct from participation in discussion or practical collaboration.

Worked proposal 2: primary and pre-primary

Fictional proposal card: Two cards are placed beside each other: one concerns a primary school and the other concerns pre-primary education. A learner puts both in the same column because both contain “primary”.

Analysis: The shared word does not erase the prefix. The primary-school card points to Part 1 item 16; the pre-primary card points to Part 2 item 9. A correct comparison names both the level and the locator.

A model sentence is: The selected schedule entries distinguish primary schools, listed nationally in Part 1 item 16, from pre-primary education, listed for counties in Part 2 item 9. This is a classification of the constitutional text. It is not a complete answer about actual budgets, staff appointments, buildings or current agency procedures.

Worked proposal 3: correct an all-education claim

Fictional proposal card: A display heading reads, “Devolution puts all education under county governments.” A second heading says, “Counties have no education functions.”

Analysis: Both headings are too broad. The matrix contains selected education functions at each level. Use the paired entries to replace the slogan with a comparison: national assignments include education policy, curricula, primary schools and secondary schools; county assignments include pre-primary education and the facilities specified in Part 2 item 9.

The correction should not become a new slogan that everything is automatically shared. A topic appearing in both columns can contain distinct assigned functions. Concurrency has its own constitutional wording and must be established from the relevant provision.

Read Article 186 before treating the table as absolute

Article 186 places the Fourth Schedule within the broader Constitution. Clause 1 makes the scheduled assignments subject to other constitutional provisions. Clause 2 explains concurrent jurisdiction where a function or power is conferred on more than one level. Clause 3 addresses functions not assigned to counties by the Constitution or national legislation.

For this exercise, the important reading habit is to keep the assignment and its qualifications together. Seeing two education-related entries is not enough to prove that every education function is concurrent. Identify the particular function and the provision conferring it. Avoid extending a limited source matrix into a complete operational manual.

Worked transfer scenario: performance and responsibility

Fictional scenario: Assume that a function assigned to a county under Part 2 item 9 is transferred for performance to the national government through an agreement satisfying Article 187. A learner says the county’s constitutional responsibility has therefore disappeared. Is that reading supported?

Answer: No. Article 187(2)(b) retains constitutional responsibility with the government to which the Fourth Schedule assigns the function. The assumption changes who performs the transferred function; it does not erase the original constitutional responsibility.

Article 187 also requires an agreement between the governments, more effective performance by the receiving government and no prohibition under the relevant legislation. Where a transfer occurs, arrangements must ensure transfer of the necessary resources. A fictional card saying only “we will transfer this” does not demonstrate that those conditions have been met. In this exercise they were explicitly assumed so that you could isolate the responsibility question.

Three practice tasks with explained answers

1. Task: Sort three labels: secondary school, childcare facility and education policy. Give a locator for each.

   Answer: Secondary school: national, Part 1 item 16. Childcare facility: county, Part 2 item 9. Education policy: national, Part 1 item 15. Naming the source prevents classification by vague association.

2. Task: A card says “education project” and supplies no other detail. Can the matrix classify it reliably?

   Answer: No. Ask what the project actually does and which institution or function it concerns. Its broad topic alone cannot distinguish policy, a primary school, pre-primary education or another category.

3. Task: Improve “A function can never involve both levels because the schedule has two parts.”

   Answer: The two parts identify assignments, but Article 186 recognises concurrent jurisdiction where conferred, and Article 187 provides for conditional transfers. These qualifications do not make every function automatically concurrent or transferred.

Frequently asked questions

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