Sixty years ago, Kenya’s founding president, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, made a remarkable speech about his plans to revolutionise the country’s education system to free Kenyans from poverty, ignorance, illiteracy and disease.
Having served as principal of the Kenya Teacher’s College in 1947, Mzee Kenyatta, who rose to become president, knew the importance of education.
Kama ni habari ya elimu, tunapanga elimu kwa taifa lote Kenya nzima. Nyinyi mnajua, tumekwisha ondoa ile ghasia ilikuwa ati kuna shule ya wazungu na wahindi. Shule zote zitakuwa za watoto wetu.
This is loosely translated to mean: “We are making plans to raise the standard of education across the country. You know that we have eliminated inequality in the education system by ending the segregation of schools for whites and Indians,” the former leader said in his speech when Kenya attained self-rule.
President Kenyatta said all schools would belong to all Kenyan children, whether white, black or Indian.
“We are all Kenyans and we will go to any school in our country,” he added.
One of the pillars of Mzee Kenyatta’s social policy was free universal primary education — a dream he championed and fully realised by the time of his death in 1978.
Through his Harambee (let us pull together) movement, Mzee Kenyatta made significant progress, with 85 per cent of Kenyan children enrolled in primary school.
“We must work harder to fight ignorance,” he insisted.
In 1965, he emphasised educational institutions aimed at moulding Kenyan youth for national service and duty.
“In our quest to develop a national teaching service, I hope we can count on your full cooperation in maintaining the highest standards of professional competence among its members,” said the Head of State.
Kenya has undergone more than seven education reforms, with the first major initiative after independence being the establishment of a National Commission on Education chaired by Simon Ominde.
The Ominde Commission formulated official education policies to meet the needs of a newly independent nation and went on to recommend the abolition of racial segregation in schools.
“As stated in the 1964 Ominde Report, the former president wanted to use education to economically empower Kenyans, unite them and promote national unity. Sixty years later, we have made wonderful strides as per Ominde’s vision, including in technological development and international awareness,” said Dr Julius Jwan, a senior lecturer at Moi University.
Dr Jwan, who is a former Principal Secretary for Basic Education, said a child from Mandera can go to school because of the progress made by the government.
“However, there are also setbacks, for example, the challenges of terrorism in some parts that affect expatriate teachers. But we have made significant progress. In education, I would give us 65 per cent, which means there is still room for improvement,” said Dr. Jwan, who also served as the director of the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD).
The educationist said Mr Kenyatta took over the leadership of the country at a time when education was discriminatory. But he was able to address the disparity.
In 1976, the then Permanent Secretary for Education, Peter Gachathi, chaired the National Committee on Educational Objectives and Policies. The commission recommended that every child should access seven years of basic education child free of charge.
In 1981, President Kenyatta’s successor Daniel arap Moi appointed the Mackay Commission which recommended that Kenya’s education system be moved from the British structure of seven years of primary, four years of secondary, two years of higher secondary, and three years of university (7-4-2-3) culminating in a bachelor’s degree.
In 1988, President Moi initiated the fourth education reform through the Ministry of Education’s Presidential Working Party on Education and Manpower Training for the Next Decade and Beyond.
In 1999, Kenya undertook the Fifth Education Reform, chaired by Dr Davy Koech, which recommended the replacement of the 8-4-4 system with the Totally Integrated Quality Education and Training (TIQET).
The sixth reform came from the Task Force on the Re-Alignment of the Education Sector to the Constitution of Kenya 2010, chaired by Prof Douglas Odhiambo which recommended a structure is two years of pre-primary, six years of primary (3 years lower and 3 years upper), six years of secondary (3 years junior and 3 years senior), two years minimum of middle level colleges and three years minimum of university education.
“The Ominde Commission took us from colonial rule to an independent country and there were fundamental changes that needed to be made in education to put us on the right track,” he said.
Dr. Jwan, who initiated the CBC process, said the Ominde Commission put Kenya on a pedestal and on a good trajectory.
Last year, President William Ruto formed the Presidential Working Group on Education Reforms.
The team, led by Prof Raphael Munavu, made significant changes in the sector, including placing junior schools in primary schools instead of the original plan to have them in secondary schools.
“As a country we are proud of the great strides we have made in education over the past 60 years,” said Prof Munavu, adding that that transitioning to CBC has been a game changer.
However, he said infrastructure is lacking, especially in marginalised regions and the shortage of teachers should be addressed.
“We have challenges. We need to ensure that we have quality teachers, quality infrastructure, especially in our early childhood education institutions,” he said.
“There has been a significant increase in literacy, there is no doubt about that, what we need to ask is how competitive is our education system compared to other entities. Other countries and I think we have done very well. Our universities are ranked very high, at least among African universities,” the professor added.
However, he said Kenya could have done more.
Prof. Munavu said investment in education in Kenya is high and urged Kenyans to appreciate and recognize educators including teachers.
The chairman says all Kenyans including parents, community and stakeholders have a role to play in the education of the youth.
However, he said infrastructure is still lacking in some schools, especially in marginalized regions. The government has continued to address the shortage of teachers by recruiting more than 56,000 in a year.
“We also have challenges in some regions in terms of teachers. We need to ensure that we have quality teachers, quality infrastructure, especially in our early childhood education institutions,” the don stressed.
