Eight ways we can make education in Kenya great again

Universities can reduce inbreeding by hiring from outside their graduates and offering incentives, like scholarships, to students from other universities. The fear that standards are not the same was long solved – give prospective students a standard exam, like GMAT or GRE.PHOTO: COURTESY

This year’s KCPE results restored confidence in our examination system. The leakage in exams was reduced from a deluge to a trickle. We all celebrated and realised there is no problem created by Kenyans than can’t be solve by Kenyans.

But to make education the catalyst of economic growth and the conveyor belt from poverty to affluence and self-confidence, we must go beyond cheating. Cheating was an operational issue; what of the strategic ones?

Here are eight issues that if addressed now will make Kenya’s education great again.

1. Inbreeding

It is now possible to go to school from kindergarten to PhD without leaving your village. This is not how to nurture the next generation of thinkers and problem solvers.

It is now possible to get all your degrees from the same university, and teach there. This is equivalent to incest, which weakens the genetic pool. The familiarity and comfort students and their parents get from hanging around each other is a threat to national intelligence.

Universities can reduce inbreeding by hiring from outside their graduates and offering incentives, like scholarships, to students from other universities. The fear that standards are not the same was long solved – give prospective students a standard exam, like GMAT or GRE.

2. Class system

Digression first. It was interesting to hear the CS in charge of education suggesting that even international schools should teach Swahili and Kenyan history. Should diplomats’ children learn Swahili and Kenyan history? The truth is that Swahili is suffering, courtesy of the class system in Kenya. The upper and middle class see the future in English. Lots of parents have their children speak English as the first language.

The big issue here is whether education can bridge the gap between Kenya’s socio-economic classes. Some elite schools are offering scholarships to poor students, a great step forward. The Government is sponsoring students to private universities – can the same be done in high schools? Education should not reinforce the class system, it should reduce it.

3. Low expectations

Teachers talk of a new generation of students from mostly poor backgrounds who have no interest in schooling. In the past, such students performed the best. What happened? Have they given up? Why is poverty no longer a motivator in schools? Even in universities, the seriousness and single-mindedness of the older generation has given way to a system where passing is all that matters, not grades. How can we reverse this?

4. Teacher training

It has been suggested that students’ expectations are partly driven by teachers’ declining status in society. Their pay is public knowledge, and many people get into the teaching profession because they missed their first choice university course. Can we ensure only students who choose Bachelor of Education as a first choice are admitted? This will ensure that dedicated and highly motivated teachers man our schools.

When will top KCSE students tell the public, “I want to be a teacher?” A parent recently told me his daughter is jobless – but is teaching.

5. Content

What do our children learn from kindergarten to university? The curriculum is determined by the Government, not the market. How can we create competition in curriculum development to ensure our kids get the latest and most useful ideas in the shortest time possible? Is nanotechnology there? What of analytics?

The owner of the school that is teaching men and women to operate heavy machinery to benefit from the boom in construction is showing us how to harness the market in curriculum development. Who is he or she?

How do we ensure our children acquire ideas and skills that will make them productive throughout their lives? Ever wondered why illiterate people know how to count money? The reality is that lots of what we learn becomes obsolete in a few years. I learnt to programme in Fortran, ever heard of it?

6. Massification

We have expanded our education system with more universities, and increased the transition rates. What are the returns on this? Are the new institutions benefitting the few men and women getting jobs there or the graduates?

7. Too much faith in school

There is a trend that if we notice any problem in society, we teach about it in school. We did that with HIV and Aids. Did that reduce infection rates? School complements, not substitutes, other institutions like family, governments and religions.

8. The envisaged new system of education (6-3-3-4)

The system, which looks very Japanese, should not be about redistributing the years, but delving into the issues raised above and empowering the next generation. To what extent does our education system reflect global best practices?

Feel free to add to the list of the issues facing our education – and suggest solutions.

The writer is senior lecturer, University of Nairobi. [email protected]