National goals of education in Kenya.

 Education in Kenya should:

1. Foster nationalism, patriotism and promote national unity

Kenya's people belong to different communities, races and religions, but these differences need not divide them. They must be able to live and interact as Kenyans. It is a paramount duty of education to help the youth acquire this sense of nationhood by removing conflicts and by promoting positive attitudes of mutual respect, which enable them to live together in harmony, and foster patriotism in order to make a positive contribution to the life of the nation.

2. Promote social, economical, technological and industrial needs for national development

Education should prepare the youth of the country to play an effective and productive role in the life of the nation.

a) Social Needs

Education in Kenya must prepare children for the changes in attitudes and relationships , which are necessary for the smooth progress of a rapidly developing economy. There is bound to be a silent social revolution following in the wake of rapid modernization. Education should assist our youth to adapt to this change.

b) Economic Needs

Education in Kenya should produce citizens with skills, knowledge, expertise and personal qualities that are required to support a growing economy. Kenya is building up a modem and independent economy, which is need of adequate domestic manpower.

c) Technological and Industrial Needs

Education in Kenya should provide the learners with the necessary skills and attitudes for industrial development. Kenya recognises the rapid industrial and technological changes taking place, especially in the developed world.

We can only be part of this development if our education system deliberately focused on knowledge, skills and attitudes that will prepare the youth for these changing global trends.

3. Promote individual development and self- fulfillment

Education should provide opportunities for the fullest development of individual talents and personality. It should assist children to develop their potential, interests and abilities. A vital aspect of individual development is character building.

4. Promote sound moral and religious values

Education should provide for the development of knowledge, skills and attitudes that will enhance acquisition of sound moral values and help children to grow up into self-disciplined, self-reliant and integrated citizens.

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5. Promote social equality and responsibility

Education should promote social equality and foster a sense of social responsibility within an education system which provides equal educational opportunities for all. It should give all children varied and challenging opportunities for collective and corporate social services irrespective of gender, ability or geographical environment.

6. Promote respect for and development of Kenya's rich and varied cultures

Education should instil in the youth of Kenya an understanding of past and present cultures and their valid place in contemporary society. The children should be able to blend the best of traditional values with the changed requirements that follow rapid development in order to build a stable and modem society.

7. Promote international consciousness and foster positive attitudes towards other nations

Kenya is part of the international community. It is a part of the complicated and interdependent network of peoples and nations. Education should therefore lead the youth of the country to accept membership in this international community with all the obligations, responsibilities, rights and benefits that this membership entails.

8. Promote positive attitudes towards good health and environmental protection

Education should inculcate in the youth the value of good health in order to avoid indulging in activities that will lead to physical or mental ill health. It should foster positive attitudes towards environmental development and conservation. It should lead the youth to appreciate the need for a healthy environment.

Teaching as a profession.

Teaching refers the process of imparting knowledge or skill, it is an activity intended to induce learning. While these definitions are simply stated --the act or art of teaching can be quite difficult.

Teaching is a very professional career where an individual is held accountable through a series of tests, assessments and tools to gauge the achievement of students and their learning. Teachers utilize their skills to convey a variety of teachable subjects to students within the classroom from math, science, history, social studies, to music, art, and life skills. The list of subjects that are put into the hands and creative minds of educators could go on for great lengths.

 

Do you respect your teachers?

Teaching is a partnership between schools, community, and parents to help children succeed in their academic careers. Each time a teacher has exposure to a student, they have the opportunity to provide building blocks for students to take with them to new studies and plateaus.

Teaching is such a rewarding and challenging career, as teachers reach outside the box, and often outside their range of knowledge to help students overcome academic, social, and emotional challenges to ensure success. It is incredibly rewarding when individuals have worked diligently with success in reaching students and allowing them to reach their potential growth. It can be a struggle to know that we are planting seeds in the youth that we are influencing and not see cultivated change but know that the changes will come in the near future.

Teachers are a valuable resource to communities worldwide, nationwide, and community-wide. They provide an essential role of helping provide the best possible means of education to a group of students that they possibly can. In becoming a teacher, individuals learn a variety of tools in their education. Aspiring teachers have a criterion of classes that will help shape their knowledge base to become outstanding educators. 

Former Education Minister Mutula Kilonzo is dead.

It is with grief that the country has learnt about the death of former education Minister Hon Mutula Kilonzo. According to some latest news from the family, the current Makueni Senator died at around one p.m. at his home. The cause of his death according to sources from the family is not yet known but they say that he has not been sick.

The Machakos county senator will be remembered for different professional handling of issues he has always shown and especially being a lawyer and for the directions he has always stood on as a minister in the education sector.

He is particularly known and celebrated as one of those Kenyans who worked tirelessly in documenting the new constitution.

Leaders have started sending their messages of condolence to the family of the late.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi said that the country has lost a great legal profession and a committed leader especially in reforming Kenya.

 Mudavadi said, “It is with deep sorrow that I have learnt of the untimely death of my friend and former cabinet colleague Senator Mutula Kilonzo of Makueni.”

Mutula was one of the key leaders in the CORD coalition through which he was elected the first Machakos senator. May his soul rest in peace.

We will keep you informed on the latest news on the same issue. Stay tuned.

For more...

News

Are laptops for primary school children a priority?

I remember the old President Moi’s era when primary school learners enjoyed free milk, the commonly talked about ‘Maziwa ya Nyayo’.  It was one experience that all those who went through appreciated and indeed is still talked about even today.

Today, there are questions and analyses of whether the government’s initiative to bring in laptops to primary school is a good idea or not. My questions are;

1.       Will free laptops improve learning in primary schools?

2.       Are the laptops really a priority in this time?

3.       Are the laptops accommodative?

It is without doubt a very good move towards achieving the goal of embracing technology in the education sector, but we have to first face the problems that we face as a nation first before we get to other complicated inclusions.

Education experts argue that the best initiative by the government could be to introduce even free textbooks for every child and provide good learning environment before the laptops arrive. Moreover, with the challenges facing the education sector in the country, it could be better if those problems are dealt with first. For instance, many public schools have no good classes, inadequate teaching staff, and lack of enough books among other challenges.

The other question is whether these laptops will improve learning in schools. This to some extent may be so but what about the reality of the fact that even teachers are not computer literate and hence may have some difficulties implementing this program? This kind of initiative will also encourage individual and not group learning which is encouraged in the early levels of education.

The cost of implementing this plan is also a factor of discussion. Many people argue that it would be fair to distribute this money in other projects before the laptops come in.

The truth be, implementing this project twill be a reason to bring confusion in the education system and it would d be fair to first listen to other pressing needs in the education sector before this luxury come in.

Solutions to education challenges in Kenya.

Kenya’s  struggle  for  independence  served  a major  foundation  for  her  educational  development  and  change. The  Kenyan  government  had  to  take  quick  action  after  independence  in  1963  to  develop  a  new  educational  policy  and  strategy  to  satisfy  individual  and  national  needs. In  pursuit  to  attain  a  suitable educational  system, education  in  Kenya  has  faced  a  lot  of  challenges  and  some  are  yet  to  be  solved  today. Its  important  therefore  to  explore  these  challenges  and  suggest  some  of  the  possible  solutions  to them.

Criticism  on  the  curriculum.

For  a  long  time, the  Kenyan  Institute  Of  Education  has  not  had  qualified  curriculum  developers. It  has  largely  depended  on  the  expertise  of  school  teachers  who  do  not  necessarily understand  the  theory  of  curriculum  development. They  also  lack  confidence  to  innovate  and  have  resorted  to  importing  curriculum  packages  and  modifying  them  to  suit  Kenyan  education. This  may  lead  to  irrelevance  of  the  curriculum as  it  may  not  meet  the  interests  of  the  Kenyan  nation. This  problem  may  be  solved  by  initiating  a course  on  curriculum  development  both  in  diploma  and  degree level  which  will go  a  long  way  in training  curriculum  developers  to     meeting  the  needs  of  curriculum  development.

 There has also been   widespread dissatisfaction with the existing curriculum. The  curriculum  has  been  criticized  to  contain  a  lot  of  irrelevance  of  much  of  what  is  taught  and  learned  in  schools. Its narrow in scope and overemphasizes on passing examinations. Interviews  on  a  wide  variety  of  people  such  as  teachers  and  parents  especially  on  what  should  be  included  in  the  curriculum  and  in  the  course  of  preparation  of  books  will  ensure  a  suitable  curriculum  is  developed. Rapid  changes  on  the  curriculum  also  undermine  teachers  and  pupil  confidence  in  it. The  curriculum  should  be  therefore  not  be  changed  regularly  and  there  should  be  curriculum  diffusion  at  all  levels  including  parents  and  politicians.

Criticism on the 8-4-4 system.

 The  8-4-4  has  been  often  criticized  for  being  burdensome  to  pupils  and  teachers  as  teachers  and  pupils  require  many  books  and  physical  facilities. Further  still  it  has  been  criticized  of  not  being  able  to  equip  learners  with  immediate  life  skills. The  ministry  of  education  should  be  therefore  reduce  the  curriculum  offering  to  ensure  effective  learning  takes  place  and  also  make  it  adaptable  to  national  needs  and  developments.

Gender  disparities.

For  a  long time, education  in  Kenya  has  witnessed  a  lot  of  gender  inequalities  in  enrollment  of  pupils. Enrollment  of  the  girl  child  has  been  considerably  low  in  primary, secondary  and  university  levels. This  disparities  may  be attributed  to  social  and  cultural  believes  that  favor  education  of  the  boy  child. Further  still  it  may  suggest  that  when  confronted  with  constraints  of  limited  opportunities  or  resources, parents  favor  education  of  the male. Educating  people  on  the  importance  of  educating  the  girl  child  and  launching  affordable  or  free  compulsory  education  to  all  Kenyans  will go  a  long  way  in  bridging  the  gender  gap.

Challenges  of  free  compulsory  education.

In  the  year  2003  and  2008,the  Kenyan  government  launched  the  program  of  free  primary  education  and  subsidized  secondary  education  respectively. This  program  was  to  go  a  long  way  to  ensure  everybody  could  access  education  in  Kenya  regardless  of  their  economic  and social  differences. True  to  its  goal  the  education  sector  realized  an  explosion  in  enrollment  of  students  in  both  primary  and  secondary  levels. As  a  results  of  the  high  enrollment  numbers  the  free  education  has  faced  a multiple  of  problems  that  has  affected  its  efficiency . Some  of  these  problems  include; delays  in disbursement  of  funds,  mismanagement  of  funds, lack  of  funds   overcrowding  of  classes, lack  of  enough  teachers, overworking  of  teachers  and  lack  of  instructional  requirements. All  these  problems  have  affected  performance  in  public  schools  and  hence  should  be  addressed. For  instance  the  government  should  disburse  funds  in  good  time  to  ensure  school  activities  run  well. It  should  also  ensure  the  funds  are  managed  appropriately  through  supervision  and  auditing  of  financial  records. The  communities  should  also  work  in  hand  with  the  government  raise  funds  in  aid  of  constructing  enough  classrooms  for  students. More  teachers  should  also  employed  to  suit  the  higher  numbers  of  students  and  be  highly  supervised  to  ensure  effective  performance.

Unsatisfactory performance in mathematics and sciences.

There  has  been  poor  performance  in  mathematics  and  sciences  in  national  examinations  over  years. This can however be attributed to the measure of staffing situation. Primary  level  teachers  lack  adequate  background  and  find  the  subjects  very  difficult  or  lack  motivation  to  teach. At  secondary  level  output  of  university  graduates  is  low  and  not  all  take  up  teaching  professions  and  those  who  do  the  retention  rate  is  very  low. Bachelor  of  education  degree  in  science  and  mathematics  education  for  both  primary and  secondary  teachers  should  be  introduced  to  train  competent  teachers  and  a  science  education  centre  on  teachers  in  service  units  should  be  established  in  the  universities  and  Kenya  Institute  of  Education  both  adequately  equipped  and  staffed.

Lack  of  homogeneity  as  a  result  of  multiplicity  of  languages.

Use  of  vernaculars  especially  at  elementary  levels  as  a  teaching  media  has  undermined  homogeneity  of education  in  Kenya. The  use  of  vernacular  languages  as much  as they  may  be  beneficial  to  Kenyan  communities   instill  tribalism  among children  at  a  tender  age. Hence  the  ministry  of  education  should  eradicate  use  of  vernaculars  as  teaching  aids  in  schools  to  ensure  uniformity  and  the  children  should  be  encouraged  to  view  themselves  as Kenyans  at  an  early  age.

 H.I.V/A.I.DS Pandemic.

H.I.V/A.I.DS has adversely affected education in Kenya. Loss of  manpower  in  education  can  be  highly attributed  to  these  pandemic. Many  students  have  lost  their  parents  too through  H.I.V/A.I.D.S  that  has  become  a  national  disaster. To  reduce  the  effect  of  these  pandemic  that  continues  to claim  more  lives, there  should  be  wide  spread  education  of  masses  on  prevention  and  control  of  the  disease. A lot  of  attempts  should  also  be  made  by  scientists  to  ensure  a cure  for  H.I.V  is  found.

Constant strikes of teachers.

 Recent years has witnessed constant and prolonged strikes by teachers. This  is  as a  result  of  low  wages, delays  in  teachers’  salaries   poor  working  conditions  and  bridge  of  contracts  agreed upon by  the  teachers  unions  and  the  government. The  result  of  these  constant  strikes  is  the  disruption  of  education  activities  which  automatically  results  to  poor  performance. Failure  to  honor  teachers  demands  also  dehumanizes  the  teaching  profession. Hence  there  should  be   better  and  well  outlined  salaries  and  working  conditions  for  teachers  and  the  government  should  respect  and  honor  teacher’s  grievances.

Insecurity.

Insecurity  is  one  of  the  current  problem  facing  education  in  Kenya. Ethnical  clashes  witnessed  in  2007-2008  post-election  violence  and  Tana  River  in  2012  greatly  affect  educational  activities. Students  and  teachers  in  some  parts  of  the  country  such  as  North  Eastern  Kenyan  that  are  prone  to  insecurity  are always  worried  of  their  safety. The  Kenyan government  should  ensure  a  safe  learning  environment  for  teacher  by  providing  enough  security. Kenyans  should  also  be  educated  to  identify  themselves  as Kenyans  and  not  according  to  their  ethnic  communities.

4.10 Lack of a Clear Professional Identity.

A  profession is  an  occupation, practice  or  vocation  requiring  mastery  of  a complex  set  of  knowledge  and  skill  through  formal  education  or  experience.  The  teaching  profession  has  often  criticized  for  lacking  a  clear  professional  identity. This  is  because  of  a  lot of  untrained  teachers  or  quacks  who  enter  the  teaching  profession  and  leave  at  will without  any  control. To  curb  these  problem, the  ministry  of   education  should  establish  a  strategy  to  protect  teaching profession  and  to  also monitor  private  schools. A lot  of  teachers  should  also  be  trained  to  ensure there are no  shortages  that  would  result  to  the  inclusion  of  untrained  teachers  in  the  profession.

Natural Calamities.

Natural calamities such as droughts and floods affect educational activities. Methods  of  land  reclamation, agro forestry  and  irrigation  in  areas  constantly  faced  by  famine  will ensure  there  are  no  constant  droughts. Migration  from  areas  constantly  faced  by  floods  and  near  rivers  will also  ensure  that  these  calamities  do  not  affect  educational  activities.