Last week in this two-part series on Religious Education in Kenya, I praised the value of the subject while criticising its present, three-headed incarnation as Hindu Religious Education (HRE) Islamic Religious Education (IRE) and Christian Religious Education (CRE).
This week, again from a professional and broadly Christian perspective, I’ll propose reforms that could make our current system more responsible, in line with the Constitution and citizens’ needs.
Firstly, let’s consider how our proselytising religious education is fully compulsory at primary and lower secondary level, and how some are even pushing for it to exist during Early Childhood Education, in ‘Baby Class’! Proselytising CRE as a compulsory subject is worrying, as it obliges people of various denominations and beliefs to acquiesce to a bullying, blanket form of Christianity.
Last week we called this discredited system Religious Instruction, not ‘Education’, and considered how Catholicism, other churches, international rights declarations and our sovereign Constitution all disapprove of such single-faith indoctrination.
It would be socially productive, I suggest, to make all of the following straightforward and inexpensive changes:
a) Adopt a multi-faith religious education (RE) that makes pupils fully aware of all our Kenyan belief groups; b) incorporate much more reflective critical thinking on values; c) permit parental opt-outs.
Let’s start with point (c). Almost all cultures, our own constitution, and international faith groups, rightly consider faith/belief to be something special, which citizens must hold dear and practice unmolested.
As seen last week, the Catholic Church (among others) strongly argues that people of all faiths should, outside the school curriculum, be permitted access to instructional religious learning if they so choose, but that school curricula should never impose single-faith religiosity on people from other faiths, different (Christian) denominations, or those without religion.
Excepting very few Clerical States, most countries agree and offer RE as a respected school subject, but give parents (and ‘cover’ teachers) the right to opt out into alternative moral courses such as Ethics or Philosophy. Parents need not explain their withdrawal.
Now, in Kenya, creating a new subjects (Ethics/Philosophy) for parents to opt into might or might not be impractical on grounds of cost, timetabling, staffing and clerical intransigence, and yet a reformed RE programme would both benefit those who take it and be sufficiently exciting and relevant that few would opt out; indeed, many who presently find CRE ‘boring’ or ‘useless’ might opt for it in greater numbers.
Then, point (a): CRE must become RE, enabling a greater understanding of other beliefs. Not only should our children learn about all beliefs, including of course their own, but they should also come to sensitively understand and evaluate those other beliefs.
This brings us to our final point, (b): the promotion of greater critical thinking. This is at the heart of successful RE courses. It not only increases pupil interest and boosts the relevance of the subject; it also habitualises thoughtful moral decision-making.
Ethicist-educationalists remind us that for societal prejudices to change, pupils must freely debate, challenge fixed assumptions, and question their own views. Courses should ‘avoid bias’ and ‘promote an enquiring, critical and sympathetic approach to the study of religion...in its individual and corporate expression in the contemporary world’; this wording is almost identical to our Constitution’s Article 32(2).
Almost all Kenyan CRE researchers agree with this critical thinking approach, believing that pupils should be allowed to explore personal decisions through ‘thought-provoking questions on moral issues’. However, as seen last week, these researchers found that no critical thinking is offered in 8-4-4 CRE. Rather, drilling and indoctrination is the norm; our CRE achieves the opposite of what the ideal RE course should.
These academics argue that (C)RE pupils should be encouraged to ask reflective questions such as, ‘What do I believe? How do I come to believe this? Do I really accept this belief?’ They conclude that ‘the absence of this as noted’, and in last week’s article we saw how ‘Approved Textbooks’ oblige CRE pupils to mindlessly recite dogmatic phrases such as ‘I will believe [in a particular doctrine]’. This isn’t holistic education; it’s oppressively poor practice and likely open to legal challenge.
Let’s end by considering how ethical RE textbooks encourage critical thinking, by focusing on a foreign textbook of Standard 7/8 equivalent level. Although it’s British, it’s identical to textbook approaches from other societies. Further, I choose this textbook because, as in Kenya, British RE syllabi and textbooks are designed by both elected authorities and belief groups.
This textbook introduces pupils to the Christian spectrum from ‘evangelicals’ to ‘liberals’; further, in response to the Bible, to fundamentalist, conservative and liberal interpretations. Pupils are encouraged to debate and choose or reject these approaches. Miracles are open to acceptance or scepticism; one question asks, ‘Why do some people question the empty tomb story?’; another, ‘Do you believe in the feeding of the 5000 story?’ Lively, tolerant classroom discussion is encouraged.
Jesus’ actions are pondered: ‘Do you personally think [Jesus’s] actions were justified [when He refused to condemn the adulterous woman/or when he cursed the fig tree when it was not season for figs]?’ Contrast how our CRE merely calls adultery ‘wrong’, er, condemning it! Pupils in the international system are asked moral questions on issues prior to being presented with different Christian perspectives, to avoid prejudicing them.
As our Education Ministry works on curriculum reform, I suggest – for the sake of us all, and in support of the law and the future of Kenyan RE – that we adopt this global best practice. Only by doing so will citizens of all denominations, those of all beliefs be fully enabled to participate in education and in wider Kenyan society as free-choosing Kenyans.
Stephen Partington is a teacher and writer based in Machakos County.
stepartington@yahoo.co.uk
