Book traces changes in Kenya’s education over the last 50 years
Whereas there was a proliferation of publications on the history of education in the 1970s up to the mid-80s, things have been different in recent years. Few publications have emerged to articulate the goings-on in education, especially in the post-structural adjustment era, when privatisation became an integral feature of social service delivery and later, massification and internationalisation of education. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- The first 10 chapters examine broad thematic issues in education, ranging from early childhood to university education and non-formal and special needs education.
- Education reviews undertaken in the 1970s through commissions, presidential working parties or taskforces concluded that the country’s education was faltering and required a rethink. Given the economic jolts arising from the oil shocks of the early 1970s, emerging economies like Kenya could not create jobs and an educational system that had prepared graduates for formal employment became deficient.
- Significantly, the book captures some monumental developments that impacted on education, such as the 2010 Constitution that dramatically changed the socio-econo and political dynamics of the day, setting the stage for enjoyment of civil liberties like the right to education and also forcing the review of education laws.
The history of Kenya’s education is well told in many scholarly publications, which highlight its evolution from the pre-colonial, colonial to post-colonial eras.
Most of the publications by the likes of Prof Daniel Sifuna, Prof George Eshiwani, Prof Sorobea Bonko, Prof J. E. Otiende, among others, have highlighted the fact that Kenya’s education has been developed through commissions, task forces or presidential working parties and underscored the influence of politics and economics in shaping the form and content of education at any given time in the country’s history.
Whereas there was a proliferation of publications on the history of education in the 1970s up to the mid-80s, things have been different in recent years. Few publications have emerged to articulate the goings-on in education, especially in the post-structural adjustment era, when privatisation became an integral feature of social service delivery and later, massification and internationalisation of education.
Clearly, the book under review helps to fill this lacuna. It takes a critical look at the evolution of education in the past five decades, outlining goals defined at any given historical moment and interrogating how the goals were linked to the socio-economic and political dynamics of the day and whether or not they were achieved.
The book is divided into 11 chapters done by four authors — Dr Okwach Abagi, Dr Ibrahim Oanda Ogachi, Prof Daniel Sifuna and Dr Violet Wawire.
SOCIAL IMPERATIVE
The first 10 chapters examine broad thematic issues in education, ranging from early childhood to university education and non-formal and special needs education. In each of the chapters, the authors provide historical background, assess the current status and conclude with an evaluation of achievements made, challenges met and suggestions on the way forward. Ultimately, the objective is to jolt policy makers to evaluate and redefine their strategies and interventions to confront the emerging challenges and harness opportunities. Chapter 11, however, brings all the strands together and retrospectively interrogates the various education goals since independence and concludes that most of them were met in half-measures.
Notably, the authors talk of lost attempts made during each of the five decades to anchor education as a social imperative, the opportunities lost and consequently, make suggestions on what ought to be done to redeem the past. For example, in the halcyon years of independence, the singular goal was to produce human resources to fill positions vacated by the receding colonial workers. Thus, the education thought was precisely to achieve that and inevitably, when the goal was achieved in the late 1960s, a crisis ensued in the 1970s of few jobs for the elite graduates.
Education reviews undertaken in the 1970s through commissions, presidential working parties or taskforces concluded that the country’s education was faltering and required a rethink. Given the economic jolts arising from the oil shocks of the early 1970s, emerging economies like Kenya could not create jobs and an educational system that had prepared graduates for formal employment became deficient.
The best bet was in practical education that would empower graduates with skills of critical thinking and prepare them to muddy their hands as they applied knowledge to solve practical needs of society. This became the subject of Gachathi Report of 1976, McKay Report of 1981 and Koech Report of 1999.
In all, the authors acknowledge the enormous growth made at every level of education, from early childhood education to university, but posit that even more arduous challenges have arisen that require fundamental mental shift.
UNPLANNED EXPANSION
Significantly, the book captures some monumental developments that impacted on education, such as the 2010 Constitution that dramatically changed the socio-econo and political dynamics of the day, setting the stage for enjoyment of civil liberties like the right to education and also forcing the review of education laws.
At the end, one of the authors, Dr Okwach Abagi, gives a summary of the good and bad in the country’s education in the past 50 years. On the negative, he outlines policy and strategy gaps, regional and gender disparities, poor quality and relevance, low transition rates across all levels, unplanned expansion of university education, poor governance and management, limited educational opportunities, high costs and expenditures, ineffective and inefficient safety nets, lack of and low morale among teachers and immoral practices.
Conversely, he lists some positives, including the progressive Constitution enacted in 2010, globalisation and communication technology, demographic changes, political realignment and governance, economic changes, new models for education delivery and the global push for education for all.
MORE INFORMATION
Title: ‘Fifty Years of Education Development in Kenya: Mapping the Gains, Challenges and Prospects for the Future’
Edited by: Okwach Abagi and Ibrahim Oanda Ogachi
Publisher: Jomo Kenyatta Foundation
Year: 2015
