Kenya’s Education System: A leaning tower of Babel

Today's top news story of the Daily Nation went by the title “students with lower grades to join varsity”. The good news was that public universities agreed to admit high school graduates with lower marks compared to last year.

Of course this will improve the lot of students who because of grades would not be able to enter university. However, though this should be a harbinger of hope for Kenya’s youth, several questions emerge on the real effects of such a move.

The unemployment rate amongst Kenya’s 35 million people is approximately 40%. It is estimated that 64% of these are the youth. Out of these, only 1.5% of unemployed youth have formal education beyond secondary school level and the remaining over 92% have no vocational or professional skills training, at all. But does allowing these extra youth the opportunity to go to university make a real impact in their chances of getting a job?

Even though universities are the cradle of research and innovation which could be perceived as a step in the right direction of nurturing future entrepreneurs, the education system before tertiary level does not adequately impart the innovative and resilience skills required of entrepreneurs.

Annually more than 240,000 post-primary students enter the labour force. Additionally 143,000 students graduate from high schools. The Kenyan education system in its current form does not equip these school leavers with skills to start business. Rather the curriculum is founded on rote learning rather than creativity and innovation, further stifling entrepreneurial development.

Even in the universities the calibre of the teaching staff raises questions. The Commission for Higher Education recently proposed reforms where the lowest qualified lecturer would be a tutorial fellow holding a Masters degree. The eminent scholar and noted historian Prof. Bethwell Ogot has been in the forefront as an opponent of this measure. He was recently quoted in the media decrying such a move saying "some teachers with a Masters are even allowed to teach Masters students".

And though these new regulations should be commended as a move to regulate the amphitheatre football stadium scenario many university students have to face and hoarse throated lecturers’ rue, at the end of the day it’s really not what is heard in a lecture but the quality of the content and transfer of knowledge that counts.

Kenyan education reforms have not only been the preserve of academia. Politicians whilst campaigning have promised “new education systems” that increase the capabilities and capacity of the youth to “effectively operate in the knowledge economy”. Even Vision 2030 - Kenya's development plan has lofty claims founded on the education system that will by then make Kenya if not a newly industrialised economy then a middle class one. However government commitment to education has been compromised with a new Education Bill that at least is expected to enforce laws that will keep children in schools, where the Ministry of Education has been less than proactive in ensuring it passes through parliament.

A question of merit versus the feel good factor

Meritocracy is a situation where opportunities are extended based on demonstrated talent, competence and ability, rather than wealth, family background, socio-economic class and other historical determinants of social position.

When extending a helping hand to enable those who just by a few points missed entry into university, thought must also be given to both those already in public universities who worked hard to make the grade as well as those still in secondary school. With no ultimate reward (a decent job with a decent wage assured at the end), the message to those students in our campuses as well as high schools is that hard work in school no longer pays. After all, another meeting of university dons can be convened to lower the entry grade further at a later date.

So what balance can be accommodated?

First, as the first crop of standard one pupils of the 2003 universal primary education policy edge closer to entering secondary school, the policy of free primary and subsidized secondary schooling needs a committed review, with the ultimate objective of providing quality education, whether for all or for a few has to be debated, as well as the subject of another post.

Kenyan policy makers also have to be honest with themselves and the People of Kenya about the increasing rate of unemployment particularly amongst the youth. The education system has to provide financial literacy, personal and business management training as core subjects. The time when a job was assured even in the civil service is over – at Yipe.org we have even heard of Masters degree holders digging trenches as part of the ill-thought Kazi Kwa Vijana programme.

To accommodate both the university graduates and lower level school leavers estimated at 800,000 annually, business reforms that specifically target micro-enterprise startups also need to be implemented.

Ultimately, education has to be held sacred. Kenyans need to take ownership of education and never allow it to be politicized ever again.

Exhortation to the General Assembly of the Model United Nations

TALKING NOTES BY EMMANUEL DENNIS TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE MODEL UNITED NATIONS IN GIGIRI, NAIROBI: THURSDAY 26TH MARCH 2009

To Your honors I oblige.

I am greatly humbled by your invitation to address this great young people at this defining moment in the history of our country.

The world is going through an economic recession as never seen before. The environment has been depleted. The Global Warming has caught up with us due to climate change. Our natural resources are shrinking. Our young people are getting ever hopeless due to lack of sustainable livelihoods.

Kenya is going through a very difficult time in the economic front, leadership, and social well being. The government is broke, the people are poor, millions dying of hunger and starvation, the IDP situation and our leaders are stealing from us.

The Governance structures are crumbling by the day while our leaders take advantage of the situation and are busy auctioning the country to themselves in the form of corruption never seen before in our lifetime as a country.

The graduates from our institutions of learning are finding themselves in a more difficult situation while those that had no chances of going to school are more vulnerable to helplessness.

The situation is grimmer when funds allocated to the basic primary education is missing. Then very soon you will hear that funds saved by the now retired citizens is missing.

Very recently, we saw the government launch the Kazi kwa vijana initiative. They failed to realize that Kazi ya mkono has always existed and that not all the young people would opt for it. While there is no sustainability structure for this very obnoxious initiative as it will only see 30,000 shillings in the pockets of those who will be engaged in a period of 6 month.

While I recognize the Youth Enterprise Development Fund in trying to solve the ever increasing youth unemployment challenge, I also know that we can not create a nation of more than 20 million business entrepreneurs, who will consume, what happens to those who cant manage businesses? That is what happens when you trust the old to handle the needs of the future. They do not have capacity to foresee the future and as such will mislead the nation to the vision never ever. Did you know that it is a crime to be a youth in Kenya? Mungiki, Vijana ya Mkono, Idlers and the like. The police will arrest you, disappear you or simply kill you.

While the above happens, we have a president and a prime minister and institutions. The only mandate that this government has is to implement the National Accord. Scientific eveidence shows that no one won the election according to judge Waki. The President has been quoted to be “Moribund” and the Prime Minister “Ineffective” With the current leadership in place, the future is black.

The questions that linger in my mind today as a young person is where is our country headed to? What legacy will we leave when our children and grand children come face to face with the effects of our actions today?

Ladies and gentlemen, I see the future generation haunting us and asking questions, “you saw as they destroyed our livelihoods upon which the future is peged on,… You did nothing to save us” I see a country full of disasters, civil strife and militia men taking charge. I see a country where suicide bombers will take center stage, I see a country where the youth will survive by the rule of the gun. I see a country where War lords will be in control of ethnic enclaves for survival.

If any of the experiences on our roads are to go by, where Mungiki collect taxes everyday from matatus and busses, where the illegal groupings provide security in slums upon paying of the daily taxes. It is happening ladies and gentlemen, and it is only a matter of time before they come to your neighbourhood, or at least you become one of them. There will be no country called Kenya. We will be more like Somalia or even worse.

In the wake of the above realities,

I also see a ray of hope, a silver lining embedded on our youth to take up responsibility and say enough is enough. It is only the young people of this country that must rise above the ethnic politics and embrace nationhood and take this country to the next level of transformation.

We don’t need reforms as that is what we have lived with for along time. We need total make over Reworking the world. Transforming our Country into a robust economic hub, where our neighbors shall depend on us to show them the gateway to the future.

I would like to request all of you to join me as we start this long journey of transforming our country. The first step is to ensure we take total control of the decision making organs of our country. We need to support the religious leaders in calling upon the two principles to concentrate on their mandate. Or at least give way so that we can have a fresh election of responsible leaders for our country.

Kenya needs not more than 13 cabinet ministers. Kenya needs a president of not older than 40 years. Kenya needs not the retirement cap above 55. Kenya needs to use the resources, energy, vibrancy, spirit, and willingness of its youth in facing the challenges of the 21st century.

We have started that journey, we invite you to join us. By recruiting individuals in creating a national grassroots movement of individuals in taking responsibility to holding their leaders accountable. The National youth Convention, The National Youth Movement in collaboration with the Partnership for change is that ultimate vehicle of bringing positive change in our communities.

We need to do things differently in order to achieve results.

As Barack Obama said and I will rephrase..

If our children live long enough to see what we have done in this country, what change would they see, what progress would we have made? This is our chance to answer that call, this is our moment, to put our youth to work, to restore the doors of opportunity for our kids and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that we are one nation, one country out of our diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds, while we go through this difficult time we shall always remain hopeful, and while we are met with cynicism and doubt, we will respond with that timeless creed, the spirit of the people, YES WE CAN.

And Franz Phanon summarized the struggle “Every generation must rise from relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it”

Which generation are we going to be?

Will we rise up and fulfill our mission for Kenya?

Or are we going to betray our noble duty?

Thank you.

May God Bless the Beautiful Country of Kenya.

emmanuel@yesweb.org