Primary and secondary education are among the most unequal public sectors in Kenya. Access to quality education is not a right for most Kenyan children.
In a recent video, Eric Omondi reminded us of the type of schools we went to in the 1970s in rural Kenya where the classrooms are all under trees and children walk bare feet and write on the ground. This week I celebrate Eric Omondi for the small acts of kindness and faith in action for those children he visited in Turkana. Several bare-foot children are shown learning under a tree and writing on the ground because they have no books and pencils/pens to write on. He introduces us to their teacher and shares her phone number for assistance.
It looks hot under the Turkana sun. Despite government efforts to support primary education, the funding allocated to schools is often insufficient and inadequate and, in some cases, less of a priority for county leadership. Inadequate funding and resource allocation crippling most rural public schools are aggravated by shortages of teachers or their unequal and inequitable distribution. While most primary and secondary schools have overcrowded classrooms, social-cultural barriers, curriculum and assessment challenges magnify the challenges.
Much research has been conducted with overwhelming evidence of inequity in accessing basic education, which is associated with economic and social development, especially in fragile areas and places prone to conflicts, where girls are less likely to go to school. A study a few years after the introduction of compulsory free primary education by President Kibaki, by the World Bank and Women Educational Researchers of Kenya (WERK), found that teacher competency and preparedness were lacking especially in pedagogical skills and subject mastery especially in mathematics and science.
Consequently, learning outcomes and students’ performances were poor. However, the worst challenge is poor infrastructure and the learning environment in rural and underserved areas like those visited by Eric Omondi. Nearly 14 years after this study, the situation appears to have worsened. In schools where there are makeshift and semi-permanent structures, overcrowded classrooms, insufficient desks and other unavailable facilities and resources, poor or absent lighting, inadequate ventilation and classrooms in deplorable conditions such as leaking roofs, and damaged floors present the greatest challenges. The learning environment greatly influences students’ academic performance and therefore, these students suffer incredible disadvantages even before they begin schooling.
Compare these with public schools in urban and well-resourced areas where the facilities and resources are top notch including well-equipped and resourced libraries, well-trained adequate teachers, laboratories and opportunities to study using computers and other modern technology equipment. Some schools even have sports facilities including swimming pools, basketball, tennis courts and other facilities rural kids cannot even dream of. These depraved schools also lack textbooks, teaching aids and other instructional materials, which not only limits effective teaching but also impairs students’ ability to engage fully with the school curriculum content. Free primary education and efforts to enhance universal access to secondary education have not improved equity and access to quality education, especially in arid, semi-arid and underserved rural areas where regional, gender, and socio-economic inequalities greatly compromise educational outcomes.
The country has over the years experimented on various education systems beginning with the 7-6-3, then the 8-4-4 and now the Competency Based Curriculum which end up producing graduates with very different training and outcomes for the same market of employers.
Kenya’s population is young and before the Covid-19 pandemic, the nationwide enrollment in primary schools was at 93 per cent while the enrollment in secondary schools stood at 53 per cent, a decrease.
Devolution was meant to bring resources, services and opportunities to the farthest left behind in regions most underdeveloped and equalise them with those at the national level but these objectives are not being met everywhere.
