Graduating National Youth Service officers in a drill during pass-out parade at Gilgil in Nakuru County in June last.
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Dear Gen Z, be ready for mandatory NYS-style training for students
Learners undertaking the competency-based curriculum (CBC) will from January 2029 go through a mandatory pre-higher education community service programme that will cumulatively see them spend 12 months working in their communities.
Learners who exit senior school at Grade 12 will undergo a compulsory three-month programme before they join tertiary institutions. The arrangement rekindles memories of the defunct paramilitary National Youth Service Pre-University Training programme, NYSPUT, of the 1990s. However, the structure of the new community service will not be paramilitary in nature and will take place within the learners’ home county. After the students complete their training, they will enlist in another community service learning programme that will take nine months. The programme is one of the recommendations of the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (PWPER) that was launched last week.
The chair of the PWPER, Prof Raphael Munavu, told Nation that the purpose of the programme is to integrate the youth with their communities and also with people from other communities to enhance national cohesion.
“The work of education isn’t just for teachers. It’s for us all. We want the people to understand the society which they come from,” he said.
The closest Kenya has ever come to introducing a community service programme was the NYSPUT that was introduced in May 1984 and discontinued in September 1990.
“The programme is similar to NYS but not operational in that model. The NYSPUT was weaponised and the outcomes were different from the objectives. Here, the learners will live within communities,” Prof Winston Akala, chair of the Basic Education sub-committee of the PWPER, told Nation. The NYSPUT was introduced two years after the attempted coup d’état in an apparent move to ‘instill’ discipline in students before they reported for university studies. University students were thought to be in support of the coup, and in the crackdown that ensued, many university students were arrested and some jailed.
However, the programme ended, producing results contrary to expectation. According to various accounts, the students left the NYS barracks more militarised and usually engaged security officers in violent confrontations. The programme was also costly to the government. The official explanation for discontinuing NYSPUT was that the double intake of university students (the first 8-4-4 cohort and the last A-level) had increased the numbers beyond what the government budget could cover. Prof Akala explained that the new programme is different.
“It was borne out of observation that there’s a disconnect between what happens at school and in society, which makes it impossible to integrate what’s learnt successfully, which costs the society dearly,” Prof Akala said.
The PWPER report defines community service learning as “engaging learners in meaningful learning experiences through active participation in activities geared towards addressing real life challenges in their communities by applying skills and knowledge acquired in the learning process”.
Prof Akala explained that the learners will be engaged for four to five hours for three days in a week under the supervision of the sub-county directors of education (SDCE), the local chiefs and teachers from neighbouring schools. There’s flexibility in that the learners will identify the days they want to work. The chiefs’ role will be to provide logistical support while the SDCEs and teachers will assess how the skills learnt in school are applied in the CSL. The activities will include support to farmers, roads maintenance or working in schools and other government facilities, but will be customised to fit the local communities.
Prof Akala, who is also the principal of Koitalel Samoei University College, said that a clear programme on the skills to be advanced will be drawn for the students, complete with a checklist for use by the supervisors. The Ministry of Education and the Kenya National Examinations Council are expected to come up with an assessment system. Upon completion of the programme, the learners will be awarded a testimonial certificate.
“We’re not expecting the chiefs, teachers and SDCEs identified to ask for additional pay since this is part of their work. We benchmarked with countries like Cuba, Finland, Singapore and South Korea where children start community service at a very young age,” said Prof Akala.
The CSL formed part of the terms of reference where the PWPER was expected to “study, assess and make recommendations on the conceptualisation and implementation of key tenets guiding the competency-based approach, including but not limited to Value-based Education (VbE), community service learning, parental empowerment and engagement”.
The tenets were identified in the Needs Assessment Report for School Curriculum in Kenya by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development.
“CSL encourages learners to develop an understanding of civic responsibility to support and strengthen their communities. CSL has been integrated across the learning areas in primary, junior school, stage-based pathways and teacher training courses. However, at senior school and diploma course for secondary school teachers, CSL is a compulsory stand-alone subject,” the PWPER report reads. It adds that CSL was observed to help promote social responsibility and patriotism among learners. It also bridges theoretical learning with practice. However, it was reported that its implementation poses a challenge owing to overload and overlaps.
“CSL, though great in concept, its implementation remain costly and time consuming,” the PWPER report warns. However, Prof Akala said that the benefits outweigh the challenges. “We shouldn’t hide the cost in order not to do what’s important. There will be some cost no matter what we choose to do,” Prof Akala said.