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.
