Meritocratic education is the missing link in our broad agenda

It’s an article of faith that the country that out-educates others will out-perform the rest in all key areas of socio-economic activities. In today’s world, social escalator begins in the first grade classroom and progresses through other classrooms for many years before emerging into the “real world”. Knowledge is the new gold and just like gold, demand far outstrips supply. As they say in football, “You are what your record says.” A look at the academic records of our students in universities, middle level colleges, secondary and primary schools in recent past years show we are far from appreciating this basic fact.

The latest is the shocking revelation of the Commission for University Education (CUE), that the nation’s 63 universities have “133 useless courses with a cumulative capacity of 10,000 students”. Is this not a major climb down of the universities from the expected rarefied peaks of great modern education system, to the troughs and plains of every day below average pedestrian culture? For sure our education system has serious problems with quality and relevance. The students need better education. Better education may be defined as an education that nurtures young people to have better values, self-confidence, to be critical thinkers, be effective communicators, to be creators and creative servers. An education that inspires all Kenyans to start something new, to add something extra, or to adapt something old in whatever work they are doing.