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Education in Kenya- The Thirst for Knowledge
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1.
Education in Kitui
Kitui
has 606 primary schools, scattered over an area of 20,500
sq.km. The
teacher:pupil ratio is 30:1 in primary schools and 16:1 in
secondary schools. There is a need to address accessibility
and cultural issues to improve school enrolment and
completion rates in the district.
The primary school going population aged 6-13 years
was 129,913 in 1999 representing 27% of the total
population and comprised of 65,542 males and 64,371
females. The total is expected to rise to 158,359 by the
year 2008. The total primary enrolment in 1999 was 132972
with 47.6% for boys and a lower 48.1% for girls. Although
there were 53,383 (26,992 boys and 26,391 girls)
secondary-school going children aged 14-17 years in 1999,
only 6,860 boys and 6,866 girls (about 25%) were enrolled
in secondary schools. |
Thus,
there is a very low transition from Primary to Secondary
Schools. Empirical
evidence shows that 13% of the urban poor have never
attended school at all while the comparative rural figure
is 29%. Of the poor, only 12% of those in rural areas have
reached secondary education while for the urban poor the
figure rises to 28%.
Education
is not enough by itself to escape from poverty. Many well
educated Kenyans remain poor on account of lack of access
to opportunities. However without education, capacity for
accessing opportunity is very much reduced.Education
is very important to the Kenyans. A major part of the typical household budget
goes towards school fees and costs for school uniforms.
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| Every day in Kitui you see hordes of children heading either towards school, or from
school towards home, their brightly coloured uniforms contrasting with the
reddish-brown dusty landscape.
Education
is seen as a vital part of the struggle to overcome the enormous difficulties
faced by the majority of people in Kitui. Not only can education offer the
potential of securing a better type of employment, but it can also help open
minds to tackle gender issues such as the role of women, womens’ property
rights, and so forth.
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Schools
are generally multi- denominational. Even schools managed by Catholic religious, male
or female, will often have less than 50% Catholic students. Primary education is
free in Kenya: however private schools are very popular. School fees
for tuition only are
generally in the region of Ks3500 to Ks4000 per term (€45 to €50), with
boarding schools charging twice this amount. In times of hardship, such as now,
parents have enormous difficulty in raising cash for fees and uniforms.
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As
explained elsewhere, the importance of school fees and school uniforms is
twofold. Firstly, if a child can get access to school, he/she is probably
guaranteed adequate feeding and
nutrition for five days of the week- and the remaining family foodstocks can be
divided among the other family members. Secondly,
school uniforms are often a prerequisite for entry to school- and once attending
school, the uniform minimises “difference” for children who might otherwise suffer
discrimination or stigma due to the HIV/AIDS factor.
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Many
Parishes run Polytechnics which teach skills such as carpentry to boys, and
dressmaking or needlework to girls. Students in the Polytechnics may have either
insufficient points from Primary school to proceed to secondary school level, or
may be prevented from entering secondary for financial or other reasons.
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| The
provision of targeted funding from support groups in Ireland can achieve much
with what are relatively modest amounts of money in Irish terms. For example,
the Dalkey Outreach Group has provided a major part of the funding for the
Polytechnic in Endau Parish for provision of sewing machines, a knitting
machine, and sewing materials. |
They
have also sponsored the fees of two students
in the past year. Holy Redeemer parish in Bray, Co. Wicklow, has been twinned with Ikanga parish in
Kitui, since the early
80s. They send out about €15,000 per year, and when that money is not
required for famine relief, the main priority is educating children in secondary
schools.
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| Free
Primary Education introduced in 2003 |
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Free Primary education
(FPE) was introduced in Kenya on January 6th 2003. The
abolition of school levies increased the number of students
attending primary school, with the number of pupils having
doubled or tripled in some cases, thus affecting the pupil
to teacher ratios. Some parents removed their children from
private school so as to benefit from this free education
while others left
the public sectors due to poor quality of education and
overcrowded classes. After the introduction of FPE in
Kenya, an additional 1.5 million students were able to
attend schools for the first time. The
current education system consists of Early Childhood
Education (ECE), primary and secondary education. ECE takes
one year. |
At
the end of the primary education, pupils sit for the
Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) prepared by
the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC). Performance
in the KCPE determines who is admitted to secondary
schools. At the end of secondary education, students sit
for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education, also
administered by the KNEC. The Joint Admissions Board (JAB)
is responsible for selecting students to joining public
universities. Students can apply directly to private
universities, which are guided by the Commission for Higher
Education (CHE). |
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Funding: |
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The
District Education Officer (DEO) is in charge of education
matters in the district and is assisted by the Area
Education Officers (AEO) in the various divisions in the
district. The DEO receives monthly enrolment figures from
schools, which are then used to determine funding. Under
FPE, each school receives Kenya shillings (KSH) 1,020
(approximately €10 at current exchange) per child
enrolled, per school year. The funds are distributed in two
deposits per year, usually, six months apart. Under MOEST
instructions, the area education offices have helped
schools open two accounts. Account 1 is the Instructional
Materials (IM) Account. Funds in the account cater for
textbooks, pens, exercise books, charts and writing chalk
among other supplies. Account 2 is the General Purpose (GP)
Account, which caters for the wages for supporting staff,
repairs and maintenance, phone bills, electricity bills,
garbage collection, postage and general expenses. Account I
receives 650 KSH per pupil enrolled (63.7%) and Account II
receives 370 KSH (36.3%) per pupil. |
School
Management Committee:
The
SMC are responsible with the management of FPE funds.
Each
SMC is composed of,
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Head
Teacher- Chair person
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Deputy
Head Teacher – Secretary
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The
Chairperson of the PTA
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Two
parents (non members of PTA) elected by parents
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One
teacher to represent each school grade class.
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| While
launching the Kenya FPE policy (January, 2003), the
Minister of Education stated that both the government and
the parents have financial obligations to meet. The
government is charged with mobilization of resources,
recruitment of teachers and training, paying tuition fees,
development of the school curriculum and provision of the
infrastructure and instructional materials. Parents on the
other hand provide basic needs for the children, school
uniforms and other scholastic materials |
Standard 2 at Mutomo greets a visitor
from Friends of Kitui
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For More Information Contact:
Friends of Kitui
Dalkey, Co. Dublin, Ireland
Tel: +353-1-285-0988
Internet: info@friendsofkitui.com
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