By Wachira Kigotho
The dust has now settled on the results of last year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) but the issue remains as to why public primary schools performed so dismally.
But this was not the first time public schools posted poor results in KCPE exams compared to private schools. The situation that was first noticed in Nairobi and other urban areas about two decades ago has spread across the country.
Quality and effectiveness of public primary schools took a nosedive in 2003 with the introduction of the Free Primary Education programme and have never recovered. Intended to boost enrolment and increase completion rates at primary level, free learning has reduced cost of education borne by parents but has failed to deliver on quality. The fairy-tale of public schools such as Olympic Primary School in Kibera, Shikunga Primary School in Butere and Buru Buru I Primary School in Nairobi Eastlands is no more.
Race down hill
Their success between 1980s and 1990s in overcoming heavy odds to excel in KCPE performance reads more like a movie script. Unfortunately, the seemingly Hollywood blockbuster has ended in despair and hopelessness.
For the former high performing public primary schools, the academic race down hill began in January 2003 when the Government implemented its pledge of free primary education.
While free primary education had acquired a nod from donors and other stakeholders, at Olympic Primary it was a nightmare that the school has never recovered from. Because of the school’s reputation as a centre of excellence, over 3,000 newcomers showed up.
Over-stretched
The scenario at Olympic Primary was repeated countrywide but the situation was worse in good schools. Overcrowding, lack of classrooms and inadequate teachers over-stretched facilities as education officials watched and almost doing nothing.
Since then, the Government has not backed the ambitious policy with adequate resources. So far few classrooms have been built to cater for the expanded enrolment while the Ministry of Education and the Kenya National Union of Teachers continue to bicker about employment of additional teachers.
For now the primary education system is at crossroads and many parents cannot understand why the Government has problems in achieving quality in public schools. Dr George Odhiambo a lecturer at University of Sidney, Australia, says quality education cannot be delinked from quality assurance and teacher accountability.
In a study Elusive Search for Quality Education: The Case of Quality Assurance and Teacher Accountability in Kenya, Odhiambo faults the Government for incompetence and unfocused approach to education.
Deeply rooted
"Basically, the underlying cause of poor quality education in Kenya’s schools is not the performance of teachers per se but deeply rooted management practices and Government policies which will have to change if this dream is to be realised," says Odhiambo.
Tracing pitfalls of Kenya’s education system, Odhiambo who is a specialist in education leadership and management calls for radical surgery of the entire education system. "The most practical solution is to overhaul Kenya’s education system and not to undertake piecemeal reforms," says Odhiambo.
However, on immediate measures, Odhiambo argues there is urgent need to undertake comprehensive evaluation of teachers in public schools, simply because their professional performance cannot be separated from their pupil’s outcomes. "Above all, there is need to invest regularly in the development of teachers, as teachers need access to continuous and effective updating and updating systems," he says.
The emerging concerns about poor performance of public primary schools in KCPE are rooted in equity considerations that continue to deny children from poor household’s quality education. Seven years down the line, most poor parents have watched the rich withdrawing their children from public schools to high performing private schools.
The issue is that the secondary school that one attends determines one’s chances of proceeding to higher education as well as career prospects. According to Dr Felistus Kinyanjui of Egerton University, if one has missed a chance in a national or provincial school, chances of success in life are reduced by more than 50 per cent.
Missed chance
The crux of the matter about free primary education is not about ‘eating chiefs’ at Jogoo House but their inability to deliver quality education. Available statistics from the Ministry of Education indicate all the 18,130 primary schools are taught by 170,059 trained teachers.
According to the ministry there are no untrained teachers in primary education sector. Going by the statistics, public primary schools have one of the finest teaching workforce in sub-Saharan Africa.
With this kind of workforce, it is very hard to understand who has been sleeping on the job, even when one factors overcrowding and lack of classrooms. It is also hard to understand why the ministry spends colossal sums of money on teacher- education seminars, instead of using it on new learning facilities.
