SESSIONAL PAPER NO. 5 OF 1978 ON EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES AND POLICIES
1. Preamble
2. Education, Culture and National Development
1. PREAMBLE
At the time of independence in 1963 Kenya was faced with a severe shortage of skilled manpower to assume the multiplicity of responsibilities that had previously been held by foreigners. These shortages were dealt with through a tremendous expansion in primary, secondary and tertiary education. Practically every student who successfully completed ordinary level school certificate was invited to wage employment in the modem sector of the economy.
By the late 1960s, however, these severe manpower shortages had been largely dealt with. In addition it was evident at the time that a strong attitude had been established that formal education automatically led to high wage employment in the modem urbanized sector of the economy. It is now accepted that many of the problems that have subsequently confronted the country in relation to education derive from the momentum created by the high economic returns that have been expected from formal education.
One of these problems has been the increasing level of unemployment among products of formal education at all levels. In spite of this unemployment, there are still major areas of nationaldevelopment that are seriously hampered by lack of people with the appropriate attitudes, knowledge and skills to carry out the required tasks. In particular, more could have been done to facilitate growth of the informal sector of the economy, self-employment in the rural areas in both agricultural and commercial activities or in creation of labour-intensive technology to facilitate rural development. Human, technical and financial resources have tended to be directed to serve mainly the needs of the modem urbanised sector of the economy. This has in turn resulted in heavy rural-urban migration of people in search of non-existent jobs, increased crime rates and a relative scarcity of the resources required to facilitate growth of other sectors of the economy.
As a result of this tremendous social and economic orientation towards the modem urbanised sector of the economy, economic values have tended to dominate other socially and culturally vital values of society. In particular, there has been an obvious tendency to disregard the ethics of society that determine the long-term survival and enhancement of the quality of life of its people. It is of the utmost importance that the country should promote its social and cultural values based on its philosophy of African Socialism and its African traditions of political democracy andmutual social responsibility.
Apart from unemployment, the other pressing problem has been the rising cost of education which, if it is left unchecked, would in time have absorbed almost the entire Government recurrent budget leaving little or no resources to finance other essential services and directly-productive activities. Ways of improving the education system must of necessity be found within restrictive financial constraints. This can only be achieved through a more closely coordinated system of Government planning of education and training. Such a coordination machinery should build into it an effective system for continuous evaluation of education and training to ensure that priorities of national development are achieved as planned.
The tremendous expansion of education has often been achieved at the cost of quality and relevance of education. In particular, the quality of teachers has been a growing concern in recent years. In primary schools, over one third of the teachers are untrained. Harambee secondary schools have been poorly staffed and equipped and have therefore tended to concentrate on arts subjects with little or no science. The Bachelor of Education teachers recruited to secondary schools have been found to be weak, in content of the subjects they are expected to teach. Discipline among teachers and pupils is known to have been deteriorating. All these factors have had adverse effects on the quality of education.
The problems have been reviewed and proposals made that should constitute a framework within which the Government will modify education during the next decade or so. The following points are highlighted:-
(a) Resources will have to be shifted to directly-productive activities in agricultural sector and in related industrial and commercial activities to generate increased resources for education and other services.
(b) In particular, there is need to facilitate growth of rural areas and the informal sector of the economy with a view tocreating self-employment opportunities for the majority of Kenyans.
(c) The systems of economic rewards and incentives will also have to be improved in the rural areas to attract increasing numbers of school leavers.
(d)The public will need to be educated about these shifts in emphasis in view of the prevailing attitude that formal education automatically leads to high wage employment in the modem sector.
(e) Education and training will need to be modified and diversified so as to cater for the majority of students who terminate at any one level.
(f) In particular, teacher education will need to be greatly expanded and improved if the quality of education is to be improved and maintained.
(g) Youth will need to be exposed to productive labour and to the realities of work while at school with a view to eradicating negative attitudes towards manual work.
(h) The teaching of mathematics, sciences and pre-vocationalsubjects will need to' be greatly improved.
(i) Vocational training will need to be orientated increasinglytowards self-employment in rural areas.
(j) Educational materials will need to emphasize the values andrealities of the social and economic environment of theountry.
{k) Harambee schools need now to be integrated into the nationaleducation system with a view to improving the quality ofeducation offered there.
(l)There is an over-riding need to promote national unity andculture. The promotion of cultural practices that are ofvalue in educational and scientific development and innational unity will need to be supported. In the teachingof arts, literature and culture, the children will be trainedto use their creative talents towards self-employment inareas such as writing, music, painting, carving, basiketry,and so on.
The Government is convinced that the people of Kenya havethe potential and scope to make the most appropriate changes intheir system of education and training to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world. The effectiveness with which such changes are made will depend very heavily on the will and competence of the planners, managers and coordinators of education, training and manpower development.
2. EDUCATION, CULTURE AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
2.1. The Report notes that the ideals of Harambee have formed the foundation and guidelines for the continued enhancement of our national unity. It observes with satisfaction that the Government, while deeply conscious of a real threat to the nation's values, is resolutely committed to preserve and promote the ideals of democracy and the importance of the individual, the tradition of mutual social responsibility and a distinctive national culture drawn from the rich traditions of Kenya's people. It appears that our education system has not taken the necessary measures to impart these ideals of the Kenya society to the youth and to show them how the ideals relate to the rapidly changing social and economic circumstances of the country in particular and the world in general. It is reassuring, however, that the Government is committed to revive and propagate those traditional practices and values which are relevant for modem Kenya; to seek to change the attitudes of people, particularly youth, to agriculture and other occupations involving manual labour; to evolve a scheme of service for youth as a means of inculcating such values and attitudes and to introduce social ethics into the curricula of educational institutions.
2.2. The human resources of a nation determine the character and pace of its social and economic development. Financial and natural resources assist the nation in the attainment of its development objectives. But a balanced and relevant educational system helps to stimulate and facilitate the activities that constitute national development.
The Report acknowledges the fact that the Government and the people of Kenya are satisfied with the prominent role played by our educational endeavour which has helped to bring the nation's rapid economic progress since independence through the development of indigenous trained manpower. However, the enthusiasm for development of education has caused an expansionwhich has not been matched by a similar expansion in income-earning opportunities, resulting in too many school leavers inrelation to available jobs.
Creation of productive employment remains one of the biggestchallenges. Labour is plentiful in the country. Hence the effortsto develop the rural areas will be intensified to create moreemployment. The Report notes a weakness in science teaching.Yet science provides the necessary knowledge which underlinesthe development of the appropriate skills and technology requiredto meet the needs of mankind.
2.3. Rural development entails the totality of the processes ofchange aimed at enhancing the quality of life of'the people livingin the rural areas. Education for rural development must beplanned and implemented as a lifelong process, of which formalschooling is only an integral part. This will mean that all thefactors that underlie rural development are taken into consideration in an increasingly integrated manner in the planning andimplementation of the education system. It is acknowledged thatthe Government has already initiated several measures throughthe existing rural development programme and accepts the needto intensify the integration of educational institutions with theenvironmental conditions in all areas. Apart from extension ofprimary education the programme includes agriculture, roads, ruralwater, health, rural works and improvement of life generally.
Education as one of the features of rural development has tocompete with other services for the available but limited resources.The Report, therefore, recommends that the role of educationshould facilitate the process of integration of educational institutions into their immediate surroundings. Problems relating topreparation of young people for parental and other social responsibilities have arisen with the adoption of formal education. Eveneducated parents are increasingly unable to instruct their childrenadequately about their roles in society. In traditional African customs young people are expected to learn social obligations suchas self-reliance, community responsibility and parenthood.
Most of Kenya is not suitable for intensive arable agriculture,and the high potential agricultural land is currently carrying veryhigh and increasing densities of population. Priority will thereforebe given to uplifting the productive capacity of land, and possible reclamation of desertland, motivation and improvement of quality of life of rural populations through investing more resources in agriculture to enable the rural people to become more effective in their endeavours.
2.4The problem of unemployment is aggravated by the annual output of school leavers whose formal education has not equipped them with skills and qualities required by the economy. The formal qualifications demanded by the employers are rising rapidly and usually bear no functional relationship to the jobs concerned. It has been observed that urban areas generate only a small proportion of the required employment opportunities. The number of working poor people making such small incomes that they do not make any meaningful living is also rising. The school leaver fits into both unemployment and working poor categories.
It has become clear that the existing education system has not been related to the social and economic realities of the country. On the whole, the curriculum has not incorporated the teaching and learning of creative capability and has therefore tended to alienate youth against the realities of their surroundings. This in turn has created frustration by widening the gap between aspirations and achievements in wage employment in which they have put all their expectations.
A number of recommendations have been made, viz.:
(a) To make general education give increasing emphasis to adaptability.
(b)To make formal educational institutions, including primary schools, give increasing emphasis on problem-solving teaching methods that have a bearing on the real life situation of the Kenyan environment.
(c)To promote the full development of the talents and potentialities of individuals within the context of mutual social responsibility.
(d) To develop those being educated into useful citizens capable of, and motivated towards, contributing to the improvement of the nation as a whole as well as that of their own welfare.
(e) To focus education on the basic needs and income-earning opportunities for the rural areas and to foster changes of social values, aspirations and motivations.
(f) To provide for ethical education and training and for such social matters as family life education, issues of the environment, and national and international understanding.
(g)To promote traditional practices that have educational and occupational values.
(h) To codify and use the traditional practices which can serve as sources of basic knowledge.
(i) To bring about a sense of dignity towards social service and productive labour through appropriately programmed activities of basic education.
(j) To give greater rewards and incentives to crafts, fanning,productive manual work and creativity.
(k)To make formal education include the teaching of prevocational craft-orientated skills, including small-scale business techniques, in order to encourage self-confidence, creative ability and evaluative capacity.
(l) To encourage youth to relate the knowledge they get in education to a purpose in life.
(m) To expose students to practical problems encountered in endeavours to develop rural areas.
(n) To give more Government guidance on development priorities for harambee, with special emphasis on co-ordination to avoid duplication.
The Government accepts the social, cultural and economic values enumerated in the Report and will help promote them through relevant education that imparts a sense of national and international consciousness. The role of students in society will increasingly be taught in schools since the modern parent in this transitional period, is less certain of what to impart to the child. The listed recommendations on promoting national unity, removing inequalities, adaptability instilling positive attitudes and bringing about relevant changes in education are acceptable.
The need for research is accepted by the Government in particular to help the creation of the most appropriate technology to create employment for the increasing numbers of unemployed school leavers. In this regard, it will be necessary to intensify research and development activities in such areas as arid zone agriculture, small-scale agriculture and business co-operative development, as well as the educational and social requirements for facilitating these developments.
The Government accepts that agriculture and related industries have the highest capacity for creating jobs in the rural areas and there is an urgent need to make general conditions and incomes in these areas more attractive to reduce rural-urban migration.
The Government, being aware of the importance of the rural-orientated strategy, will not only re-allocate resources towards the rural areas but also restructure the pattern of incentives and rewards in favour of rural economic activities and the poorer sections of the community. A comprehensive incomes policy, which is implied by this, will also seek to reduce the present emphasis on allocating jobs and awarding promotions on the basis of formal education qualifications.
The Government also accepts the need for co-operation between all ministries and departments in areas of conservation, extension services and integrated programmes in the rural areas in order to bring about the required development.
3.FORMAL EDUCATION
3.1 Access to Education.
The Report identifies the imbalances of access to education between provinces, districts and divisions and between sexes which exist because of historical, social, economic and environmental factors. The problem of imbalances is particularly serious among the nomadic communities, although imbalances do exist in specific areas of some of the more progressive districts. The factors causing these imbalances must be taken into consideration in trying to eliminate them. A great deal has already been done by the Government since independence to create more educational opportunities in these areas, but the schools in those areas continue to have varying and low enrolments. The inequality of access to education between the sexes is mainly due to the traditions, beliefs and prejudices held by people regarding the role of women in society. The Government should review regularly these regional and sex imbalances to find ways and means of reducing them.
The Report indicates that there is a wide variation of educational standards between different parts of the country and between educational institutions.
3.2 Basic Education {Primary and Junior Secondary).
The present system of primary education has been found inadequate. Indeed, the ILO Report on Employment, Incomes and Equality in 1972 had suggested, and the Government had accepted, reforms which included a lengthening of the primary education cycle from seven to nine years, improvement of school facilities, a new examination, a new curriculum and a considerable amount of teacher retraining. The intention was to phase these reforms as resources became available.
The present Report reiterates the desirability of providing a nine-year basic education which will be available to all Kenyan children and which will be terminal for the majority of them. The most feasible way of doing this will be to detach the present Forms 1 and 2 from the secondary school system and establish a two-year junior secondary section as part of primary school system. Further to this arrangement, the curriculum will be diversified to include adaptive knowledge and inculcation of attitudes and skills that are relevant to the social and economic environment in which the school leavers will live and work. A detailed revision of Primary New Mathematics course will be required. Kiswahili will be a compulsory and examinable subject when suitably trained teachers are available.