The release of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination results was accompanied by the usual ministerial homilies about success and hard work, and the predictable roll call of those pupils, and schools, that engaged in cheating. A debate has erupted, one that is surely familiar today, on the emphasis placed on the selection of top pupils to national secondary schools from state-funded primary schools at the expense of those from private schools.
Musau Ndunda, the indefatigable Secretary-General of the Kenya National Association of Parents, has echoed the sentiments of hundreds of thousands of parents when he declares the policy of favouring pupils from state-sponsored schools over those of private schools as unfair, perhaps even unconstitutional. The predictable response from Prof Sam Ongeri's Ministry of Education was to create thirty additional national schools to cater for the large numbers of pupils successfully completing the KCPE. That the Ministry chose to focus on what is ultimately a short-term solution over the long-term one of improving the quality of education in the other secondary schools is an indictment of a Ministry that has played merry hell with the futures of thousands upon thousands of Kenyans.
Kenya's basic education policy has been a political football for decades, held hostage by the whims of the ruling classes. The effects, to say the least, have been tragic. It is heart-rending to witness little boys and girls 'learning' in dire circumstances, frequently under trees or in class-rooms that are barely four-walls-and-a-roof. It is a testimony to the resilience of the spirit of the child that their desire to make their parents proud blinds them to the decrepitude that their government has foisted upon them in the name of free primary education. No one, least not me, would wish to reverse the policy that gave all Kenyan children an opportunity to go to school. It was the right decision by Mwai Kibaki's government; what they failed to do, or perhaps were unable to do, was to allocate the considerable resources necessary to ensure that not only did our young learn to read and right, but that their education would place them in a position to compete with the rest of humanity's children, giving them a leg up in what is surely a very competitive world.
In the decade since Mwai Kibaki became president, billions upon billions have been expended on the civil service, the armed forces, and infrastructure, but precious little on the education and well-being of our young in primary and secondary schools. Even with a shortfall of nearly 60,000 teachers, the few that are there are poorly paid and lack the motivation not just to educate our children, but to guide them and develop their talents to be the best that could be. Negotiations with the teachers' union, KNUT, are characterised by broken promises and industrial action. Meanwhile, the construction of superhighways and the prosecution of foreign wars refuse to take into account that this economy will sputter to a halt if the youth of Kenya are not given the educational opportunities they require, nor the skills to exploit those shiny new highways.
The blame for this sorry state of affairs can be laid at the doors of the Ministry of Education and the Kenya National Examination Council, KNEC. Even when well-meaning development partners have devoted significant sums of their tax-payers' monies to the education of the children of Kenya, the Jogoo House has consistently disappointed, husbanding these monies so poorly that billions have been lost to outright thievery by the very same men and women dedicated to ensuring that our young receive an education. The predictable results have been accusation and counter-accusation between politicians over who is to blame. Calls for Ministers and Permanent Secretaries to 'step aside' now constitute the policy of the Ministry. All that our mandarins and nabobs in Jogoo House do is to survive, whether or not the children whose fate they hold in their hands see a better future or not.
This is an election year, so it is highly unlikely that Prof Sam Ongeri or Prof James Ole Kiyiapi will initiate any bold reforms to ensure that education in Kenya not only reaches all children, but that it meets the minimum standards of quality. It is especially difficult to see any bold measures from Prof Ole Kiyiapi given that he has decided to join the political field as a presidential contender. The irony of having so many professors in charge of education in Kenya and over such a long period in our history is not lost on long-suffering Kenyans. If the educated elite are incapable of managing the education sector effectively, will our children ever taste the fruits of a sound education?
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