Chapter III
Primary Education
(a) Purpose and Character
105 Primary education is the stage of acquiring the basic equipment for living. It is the most –generalof all kinds of education. It is the basis both for training in many of the skills of organised life and forfurther education. As we know it today, primary education everywhere contains three main trainingelements namely, literacy, numeracy and the rudiments of citizenship, for these appear to be the main-technologies' in universal demand for the business of living in the modern world. All three elementscall for constant review, especially the last, because here in Kenya the notion of citizenship today is forthe people of Kenya a very different thing from the citizenship of yesterday.
106 In the more highly developed countries, primary education alone is considered not enough for thedemands that society makes on the individual. That was not always so, for in the earlier stages of economicdevelopment mere literacy and numeracy were regarded as adequate for the accomplishment of the moremodest tasks. Here in Kenya, too. there was a stage in economic and social development in which theperson who could read and write and carry out simple calculations was very serviceable to a simple ruralcommunity which had hardly begun lo be stirred by modern methods of production, distribution andexchange, or to be reached by modern methods of transport.
107 Today the outstanding fact about the communities of rural Kenya is the rapid change in methodsof production, bringing in its tram a whole complex of changes in the pattern of life. New problems areposed, new tasks are set, many of which were never heard of before. Modern transport, marketing, cooperation, new systems of land tenure, insurance, banking, and more exacting requirements in some ofthe traditional activities - all these developments are rapidly changing the countryside of rural Kenyabeyond recognition. To meet these challenges, new knowledge, new skills, new levels of education, areneeded. Increasingly here in Kenya, as in other countries, primary education by itself is found to be notenough for many of the specialised tasks of modern living.
108The struggle for secondary school places, which now exerts so great an influence on the primaryschool is seen by some as motivated by a desire for release from the drudgery of traditional occupationson the'land and by an undue respect for the white collar job. No doubt there is truth in this estimate ofthe situation. We believe, however, that the main impulse is a growing realisation that the K.P.E. Certificatealone is now almost worthless as a passport to the occupations of the modern world, in the excitement,the challenge and the benefits ofwhich most young people long to share. The case for general post-primaryeducation is already with us.
109The rising standards of competency demanded by the modern situation is clearly seen in the risingrequirements for entry to numerous occupations. The Agricultural Training Centre at Embu, that oncerecruited at K.P.E. level, now expects a School Certificate pass. The RailwayTraining School, once contentwith K P E. entrants, now competes in the market for secondary school leavers. In the training of teachers,it is already obvious that a K.P.E. Certificate is not enough. Everywhere, the basic educational requirementsare rising On the land, new methods of cropping, fertilisation, contour-ridging, marketing—all theseinnovations are calling for extra training beyond the basic, genera education imparted by the school.Everywhere, something more than the fundamental basis is increasingly requisite for those who are anxious
to share in the material benefits of modernity.
110Several witnesses, aware of the insufficiency of the K.P.E., have asked us to consider introducing intothe later stages of the primary course a specific job training element. We feel unable to support this, fortwo reasons. First, as already indicated, the tendency in a rising number of occupations today is to requiremore rather than less, basic education. To truncate the basic element at this juncture would, we feel,be a retrograde step, out of harmony with the general trend. Secondly, we have to remember that primaryschoolchildren are becoming on an average younger and younger and that, before long, 13 will be the typical age for Primary* VII. It is difficult successfully to incorporate a vocational content in the course at such an age. However, we return to this subject in greater detail in chapter VIII.
111. If a specific vocational element were introduced into Primary VII, that would have the effect of shortening the time given over the primary course to basic education. We do not rule out the possibility that more effective teaching methods might accelerate the speed of learning, but we consider it to be more in line with the trends that we have noted in the foregoing paragraphs, if any advantages arising from improved methods were invested in higher standards of attainment in the primary school and not in the importation of vocational subjects into the syllabus.
112. At present, one of the greatest problems of the primary school is its multiple objective. On the one hand, for 85% of the children, it is the only formal education available; on the other hand, for the minority, it is a preparation for the secondary school or other further education. So great is the urgency to get into the secondary school, for reasons explained earlier, that it is not to be wondered at that most primary schools concentrate on the second objective at the expense of the first. Part of the remedy for this is improved supervision, to which we shall recur; but experience in other countries has shown that this conflict of purpose Is almost impossible wholly to resolve. The conflict is not, of course, a complete one and over much of the field the interests of the primary leavers coincides with the interests of the secondary aspirants. It is desirable that this area of common interest should be broadened as much as possible. Fortunately, our recommendations with respect to practical subjects in secondary schools will help to increase the practical emphasis in the primary school: and the greater relative importance to be attached to science in the secondary school will strengthen science in the primary school. As we shall see, both of these facets of primary education are important to the primary leavers.
113. These two aspects of primary education call for a special emphasis. As we explain in chapter IV, one of the most significant deficiencies in Kenya education is its failure to give adequate training in the manipulative skills. These are of obvious importance to the majority of children, whether or not they receive an education beyond the primary stage. Little is known, at present, about the fundamental causes of this deficiency, and we believe that the subject deserves specialised research. We have accordingly included this subject among the suggested research projects that we have listed in Appendix 4. Meantime, the English medium course already includes some early training of hand and eye co-ordination and we comment elsewhere on the primary art and craft course in respect of its contribution to this general problem. The second aspect has to do with the scientific ingredient of education. As we have shown in chapter I, we believe it to be of the greatest importance to emphasise a scientific outlook on life, to a greater extent than has been attempted hitherto. To this, again, we shall revert in our comments on the curriculum.
114. Finally, we wish to draw attention to the social function of. the primary school. Too often, in our experience, it is regarded as a place whose importance is limited to the formal act of instruction and too little attention is paid to the social training of children within the classroom and outside it. The educative influence of the school as a community is too easily overlooked. With the slow mixing of the peoples and tribes of Kenya, that we expect progressively to take place with the spread of modern methods of production, the composition of primary schools will become more diversified. Here is an opportunity for training in living together, which is of importance in nation-building.
115. One final word of caution relates to the generalised use of the term 'primary school'. There is a world of difference between the remote village school in its simple, thatched, often dishevelled, generally wholly inadequate school building, and the urban school in permanent premises, almost always in charge of teachers of higher qualification and enjoying the educative influences of a more diverse surrounding. We must keep these differences in mind in the following paragraphs and consider how the educational disadvantages of a rural upbringing may be mitigated.