CHAPTER SIX

ADVANCING QUALITY EDUCATION

The Challenges:

Over the years and across the globe, education has proved to be one of the most reliable human development undertakings with the capacity to transform the lives of poor people. Quality education is a birthright of every child in Kenya. Education is the tool for empowering vulnerable groups including girls, children of the marginalized groups and children with disabilities.

The introduction of free primary education by the Narc Government in 2003 has been a success. However, the system is plagued with a myriad of problems. About 2 million children are not enrolled in schools despite free primary education, and the completion rate currently stands around 68%. Many primary schools have few classrooms. A lack of teachers is the norm in many areas and the class sizes are too large with a ratio of 1 teacher to 80 children. Children have to share textbooks and school uniform and transport costs are prohibitive for many households. We have to learn from this experience and improve delivery with quality education.

The introduction of free secondary education would help to reduce drop-out rates, increase literacy levels and provide more lifelong skills to more children. It would also substantially reduce the financial burden of many parents.

The estimated numbers of adult Kenyans who are illiterate are 4.2 million, two thirds of that number being women. This large number of illiterate Kenyan adults is attributable to a lack of access to formal education for many groups, especially the marginalized; low retention rates by the formal education system; and a high poverty index in the country. Enhancing adult literacy in Kenya is in line with several international commitments to education and human development, notably Education for All (EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

The “Special Needs” education is in an appalling state in the country and needs to be professionalised.

Our Commitments:

We will introduce free quality secondary education.

We will improve teachers’ training, conditions of service and remuneration. Besides, we will treat teachers like the professionals they are.

We will enforce strict accreditation of colleges in order to assure our people of quality education and training.

We will develop a curriculum that takes into account the social, cultural and economic needs of a democratic Kenya competing in a globalised market.

We will invest heavily in Science, Information and Communication Technologies at primary and secondary school levels.

We will formulate an equitable budgetary allocation system that is driven by the needs of each school and region rather than a uniform allocation.

We will reduce the negative impact of culture, poverty, and inequality vis-a-vis the lack of access to quality education by most vulnerable groups, especially girls and children with disabilities.

We will protect vulnerable children and the girlchild from sexual abuse in the education system by enacting a tough law that punishes people that abuse pupils in their care.

We will ensure teaching and practice of basic hygiene in all schools and make sanitary towels available for girls.

We will invest in science and technology to transform our commodity based economy to a more knowledge driven economy through education.

We will enhance our universities so they gain an international reputation for excellence. We will work together with local industry and the private sector to ensure that our universities are the hub for innovation and enterprise.

We will review the functioning of the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) and increase funding to it.

Your ODM Government will:

In Early Childhood Education

• Develop and implement a comprehensive National Early Childhood Development (ECD) Framework for Kenya.
• Provide government sponsored standardized training for ECD teachers and caregivers.
• Provide minimum facilities for public schools to provide ECD to all children including children with disabilities.

In Primary Education

• Intensify efforts to build more classrooms by providing greater investment in school infrastructure.

• Rehabilitate dilapidated school blocks.

• Employ more teachers to progressively achieve a teacher pupil ratio of 1:40.

• Provide incentives and motivation so that girls match boys in enrolment and completing education.

• Revise current school curriculum to ensure that it places less emphasis on rote-learning and passing examinations and focuses on equipping the children with skills for a knowledge-based economy.

• Introduce special affirmative measures to ensure the inclusion of marginalized and vulnerable children in the education systems at all levels.

In Secondary Education

• Exempt tuition fees of fresh entrants to secondary school from January 2009.

• Improve student discipline by enhancing the role of parents and the local community in the education system.

• Introduce local community participation in the day to day running of schools to develop a sense of ownership and responsibility.

• Review the current secondary curriculum.

• Revitalise the Kenya Schools Equipment Scheme and close loopholes in procurement.

In Tertiary Education

• Rationalise university administration to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

• Encourage the participation of women and other marginalized groups in university education.

• Improve tertiary education towards skills gaining and towards job creators and job seekers.

• Ensure that industry, education and the Government co-operates more strongly than ever to turn tertiary education into practical economic benefit.

• Invest in research, development and innovation. We want to establish an investment and innovation agency in Kenya, bringing together current research, proof of concept, incubator and equity support from government.

• Allocate more funds to increase learning facilities in public universities.

• Facilitate the registration and regulation of private universities to ensure access to quality education.

• Create an “Open University” where adults who had not had the opportunity to attend campus universities can have access to current university facilities during vacation and weekends. It would be more cost-effective to use the existing infrastructure to get adults who missed out on university education to enroll and study at leisure and attend weekend academic courses and seminars and workshops during vacation. The Open University system would use the latest communications technology to bring high quality degree-level learning.

In Adult Literacy

• Encourage and invest in adult literacy education. By working closely with the voluntary, private sector and religious organizations, we can give an opportunity to Kenyans who missed out on formal education to learn basic literacy and numeracy skills in their own time.

In Special Needs Education

• Review special needs education in the country with a view to compiling an assessment of needs and priorities.
• Invest in modern teaching aids for children with learning difficulties and those with sensory problems.
• Undertake up-to-date training of teachers working with children who have special educational needs.