Urgently needed: A new education system for Kenya

NAIROBI: The Kenya Curriculum Development Institute has announced the process of reviewing the curriculum and the education system. The beginning point should be scrutinising the reports and recommendations of past taskforces and commissions.

The country needs an education system that drives a knowledge economy, tackles inequality and creates economic opportunities inclusively.
Access to quality education is a constitutional right.

Ensuring quality education for every Kenyan child is a chance to strengthen Kenya. The country has had a long legacy of an unjust and unequal system of education and schooling. This system has stolen the futures of millions of children and denied the country the full measure of progress and equal opportunities.

The national government has created a situation where public schools are not allocated resources to develop and improve their educational environment.

Public schools infrastructure is dilapidated; teaching materials and models are outdated; teacher-student ratio is disproportionately pathetic; and teachers training programmes are grossly inconsistent with global information technological changes and needs.

The education system in Kenya is responsible for disastrous inequalities, wastage and denied access to equal opportunities.

There are enough financial resources to overhaul and transform education in public schools as a crucial driving engine of creating inclusive economic growth and social development.

Every shilling spent on education should take into consideration the needs of the child and not what the national government and education bureaucrats want. Education is a national priority not a Government programme.

Every child should have a chance to learn with a great teacher. Supporting educators to become the best they can be is one of the surest routes to improving the quality and innovation of the nation’s workforce.

Right now, the mentality is that education occurs because of the amount of time students spend in class, not the amount of knowledge they gain. That must be reversed. Time should be the variable and learning the constant.

Kenya does not need more tinkering with the existing education system. It needs a new one. The problems in the education sector are too deep-rooted for an easy tinkering. The reforms so far have picked low-hanging fruit while quality of education remains appalling.

The country has a condemned education system that every year, releases graduates and millions of children unprepared for life, and is never held accountable for that failure. It is time to make tough decisions on how to comprehensively reform and strengthen Kenya’s education.
High quality, innovation-driven education is a central pillar of the country’s economic development, national security and global competitiveness.

A high quality non-discriminatory education system contributes fundamentally to social cohesion, stability and equality. It forms a foundational basis for effective competition of the country, economic dynamism and healthy, informed and active democracy.

Such an education system produces highly competitive and informed professionals willing and able to live and serve the country’s strategic interests anywhere in the world.

Therefore, the country needs to invest largely in a high-level education system for its populace with the correct philosophy and vision that ensures children coming out of school are fully and well-equipped to tackle globalised challenges.

Further, the education policy should encourage many other nationalities to come to Kenya to learn, invest and live while generating wealth, innovating, creating jobs and paying taxes. It is globally recognised that countries, which have recorded the highest improved standards and quality of education, have invested heavily in building strong education systems. Those countries understand what their long-term strategic interests are.

The dominant factor of the 21st Century is top-notch skilled human capital. Equal opportunity and promise for all should be the core foundation of the education system. Unbridled privatisation in education is dangerous.

Kenya spends billions of shillings annually to take children abroad for studies. It is part of capital flight. It explains the deep crisis facing the Kenyan education system. The country cannot allow the continuation of lack of confidence in the education it offers.

The country has to focus on building capacity and infrastructure to ensure high-quality and robust education in public schools. There is need to invest in teaching and best models of teacher preparation and development to boost teacher effectiveness and retention. We must focus on the two primary linchpins of educational attainment: what students need to succeed, and what their teachers need to facilitate success.

There is a vital link between high-quality, equally distributed education for all children and the prosperity and overall well-being of the country. Quality education is a cornerstone of democracy and a means of acculturation for generations and a crucial vehicle by which generations simply do not dream aspirations, but achieve them.