End education crisis in Northern Kenya

According to the Kenyan law, education for children is a right. The Basic Education Act of 2013 states that every child has a right to free and compulsory education.

Going to school, therefore, is not a matter of choice, but an obligation. Every parent must ensure his or her child goes to school, failure of which might lead to prosecution.

Unfortunately, most children from the pastoralist communities lack this opportunity. Insufficient infrastructure for education has been a challenge to easy access to education for children in the marginalised areas. It is not unusual to see more than 100 children sitting on the floor while attending class.

Sometimes two or three classes are combined under one roof. During lessons, the classroom in some of these schools resembles the Tower of Babel.

The challenge of inadequate classrooms and other necessities is historical, but lately, issues of insecurity and violent extremism have denied children their right to education.

The education challenges in the Northern parts of Kenya are getting worse by the day. The Ministry of Education, unfortunately, does not seem obliged to find a lasting solution.

According to the latest Kenya National Bureau of Statistics survey, the number of children who have not yet reported back to school or have not yet enrolled in the ASAL region is more than 1.2 million.

Get worse

This is alarming. It means close to a third of the children are missing school. The largest proportion of these children are in the three counties of the northeast, 250 schools have not yet reopened since January due to a lack of teachers.

In the last few years, the security situation in Northern Kenya has deteriorated, forcing the Teachers Service Commission to withdraw teachers.

Having more than 1.2 million against a population of 5.9 million in this region as per the 2019 census implies the level of literacy, which currently stands at less than 50 per cent, will get worse.

Education is crucial to reduce poverty and develop the human capital of the country. The ministry has also contributed to the low enrollment by demanding new pupils must have birth certificates.

This has further hindered children, particularly in far-flung areas, because many of them are not able to acquire this crucial document. In many cases, even the parents themselves might not have it.

According to the National Council for Nomadic Education, the North-Eastern part of Kenya has a shortage of more than 3000 teachers.

This gap was created when most non-local teachers fled the region due to insecurity. Unfortunately, the government seems to have caved in to the demands of the Al Shabaab terrorist group.

Extremist groups

The groups’ objectives are meant to disrupt and make it difficult for educational institutions to operate normally. Once the schools remain closed, they will easily move on and select another targets like police stations and government installations.

The best solution to this challenge would have been for the government to stay put and ensure the terror group does not succeed in its objectives.

A long term solution is to train as many local teachers so in the event of insecurity, they can continue teaching and fill the gaps in the absence of the non-local teachers. Technology can also make it easier for children to be taught remotely.

There are currently many products in the market for such lessons. The government needs to quickly adopt the use of technology so that this kind of disruption can be avoided.

The continued stoppage of learning activities has long term ramifications. Children who have never been to school can easily be manipulated by and recruited in to violent extremist groups.

The low levels of literacy and poverty are fertile grounds for the radicalisation of the youth. This cycle of violence is likely to continue if urgent remedial action is not taken.

It is also about time we demystify the thinking that the national government operations must be uniform across the country. Invoking the Intergovernmental Relations Act, the national government can transfer education to the counties.

Even more important, transfer some aspects of security functions so that local solutions can be found for this perennial conflict.

Mr. Guleid is the CEO, Frontier Counties Development Council. [email protected]