How reforms will boost our education

Evidence shows that appropriate investments in education and training are a catalyst to socio-economic development in many countries.

This is possible where these investments generate three key outcomes, namely knowledge, skills and appropriate attitudes.

I will explain why this is not happening in Kenya despite the huge budgetary allocations to the sector and give reasons why the ongoing bold interventions are in the right direction if Kenya is to achieve her development ideals.

Without making a blanket condemnation of our education sector, there is a craze for marks, grades and certificates at the basic education and middle levels, which culminates in high social demand for university degrees.

In most cases, the teaching and learning processes focus on examination results and not the outcomes, to the extent that majority of learners complete different education circles without the necessary knowledge, skills and appropriate attitudes, the three ingredients of human capital, which drive the developed economies as well as the newly industrialised ones.

It is against this background that one sees efforts by the Government to streamline management of national examinations as a first step to bring about much needed order to the ailing education sector.

Kenyans of goodwill should commend the bold steps being taken by Dr Fred Matiang’i, the staff at the Ministry of Education and related agencies in consultation with relevant line ministries. Another bold move is for the Government to implement one of the key recommendations of the report of a Taskforce chaired by Prof Douglas Odhiambo in 2011-2013 to align the country’s education to the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 and Kenya Vision 2030 by introducing a Competency-based Curriculum.

I have some reasons why Kenyans should support the ongoing education reforms. One, in the past, there were many KCSE candidates who scored A’s and other attractive grades, which they did not deserve. The consequences are dire when we imagine that some ended up in life-saving careers such as medicine.

Two, to a large extent, the KCSE results confirm some research findings, especially the annual learning assessments by the UWEZO-Kenya whose reports are titled “Are Our Children Learning?” since 2009 demonstrated that Kenyan children are not learning. This sad state of affairs has gone on for a long time with Education Commission reports confirming the same but little has been done by former education chiefs to address the inefficiencies.

Three, rather than agitate for cancelling the results, stakeholders would call for in-depth investigations to answer questions such as: Who are those that scored E’s in terms of gender and other parameters? Which schools did they attend, rural or urban, day or boarding schools, single or mixed gender, and so on? Four, Dr Matiangi’s bold steps confirm that, with determination, focus and relentless efforts, challenges that are threatening the fabric of the Kenyan society can be surmounted. Let us not lose sight of the bigger picture of the desirable and tortuous journey, which has just started to resuscitate the ailing education sector.