Kenya's education illusion: Why our system needs a total rewrite

 

A section of the famed Harvard University in Cambridge, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. [Iraki, Standard]

Let us continue our sequel on education as the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams go on and university industrial action persists.

We all go through school, and that by itself should demonstrate its importance in shaping our lives and that of a country. What issues did we leave out last time?

One is the level of centralisation. In some countries like the US, Canada, and Germany, states are responsible for education. Centralisation could benefit from economies of scale but reduce innovation. We decided to leave education to the central government.

Some argue that the woes in the health sector show it was a good decision. We did not try it; it’s hard to conclude.

Decentralisation would include the curriculum content to take care of local needs. People in Sindo and Kimbimbi have different needs.

We wrongly assume that everyone will leave his village or hamlet after school. Many remain there.

Do we give them skills to improve themselves and their communities?

Sadly, it’s the best who leave the villages. Everyone is silent about this brain drain, which partly explains economic stagnation in the rural areas despite new roads. Examination is the hot potato in decentralisation. Yet it’s the easiest to handle. Outsource it, and make the Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) a regulator.

Who offers the SAT, ACT or GMAT in the US, whose constitution we partly copied? Didn’t we do Cambridge University exams in the past?

If ICUs can be in private hands, why not examinations? Competition in offering exams would lead to innovation and raise standards.

We could have different versions of the same exam in different locations, especially with ICT, to suit different contexts. We should appreciate our diversity.

Issue two is studying abroad. Have you noticed how many billboards advertise study abroad? They are taking advantage of our dissatisfaction with our education system, including industrial action in public universities.

There is a perception that education beyond the borders is better. We reinforce that by quoting foreign authors.

Check thesis references even when the topic is on witchcraft or building mud houses. Where is our traditional wisdom in citations? Noted how citations in academia mimic that in religion?

Curiously, there was a time when studying abroad was frowned upon.

How else do you explain that the top three leaders in Kenya- President William Ruto, his deputy and Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi- were schooled here, and so were many current captains of industry?

The perception that foreign education is better is further buttressed by our travelling abroad; we see institutions, schools and benchmarks. That is why Gen Z took to the streets; they want Kenya to meet global standards!

The increase in the number of local graduates and universities has raised the status of foreign credentials; they are rare and set you apart; it’s economics - supply and demand.

Three is inbreeding; should one be proud of getting all his degrees in one university and getting hired there?

Avoiding inbreeding is one of the strengths of foreign universities that we admire. They never hire their graduates, even after offering them scholarships.

The thinking is that without a secure job, you will become an intellectual entrepreneur, publish and innovate.

You get tenure depending on your productivity. Without inbreeding, non-performers are penalised. We used to dilute inbreeding in Kenya with visiting professors, including Nobel laureates and by sending our future professors to study abroad.

Add the University of East Africa, which allowed students to study in Uganda and Tanzania. Many universities are adding study abroad to their curriculum to expose students to new perspectives.

Four is measuring productivity. Beyond papers published, students taught, and community outreach, how do you measure the productivity of a don or a teacher? 

Published papers are now linked to citations by others. Teaching is evaluated by students, and innovations are rewarded, more so if patented.

This would be linked to pay and other rewards. The big issue is when dons are expected to be practical; a good expectation given the public funding of higher education.

What if an idea gets practical use many years into the future? Think of quantum computing, an idea that took 100 years to be practical.

A country that thinks of practical or marketable ideas will lose in the long run. Most groundbreaking ideas seemed impractical at first, including M-Pesa.

Who would fund them? Why link university research to the current market? It should be to future markets!

Five is upward mobility. Education ought to be the conveyor belt for upward mobility. That is why accessibility is so important, and taxes should fund education, at least up to high school.

With the proliferation of private schools, that conveyor belt slows or is shunted.

Curiously, those who benefited most from almost free education up to university are less willing to provide the same to the next generation.

They are more likely to take their own children through private schooling and disdain public schooling. It’s probably about class and status; one of the lasting legacies of the British Empire.

Seven is regression to the mean: once we leave school, annoyed by the exams and other hardships, we loathe schooling. We fail to self-improve with new skills and thinking. When did you last buy a book after school (not about motivation)?

We regress to the mean and act and behave like “others”. We can add that social media and artificial intelligence (AI) will accelerate the regression to the mean.

We have access to the same information irrespective of our level of education - whether professors or mama mbogas (green grocers). Disputing? 

Finally, without focus on the right skills and holistic growth of the students, we risk making schooling a ritual without commensurate returns to society.

Education should be fit for purpose, preparing the next generation for tomorrow and its surprises, including AI, space exploration and the end of the old order.

Any key issue I have left out? Please share.