Development of Education System in
By Anthony M. Wanjohi
This paper deals
with system of education in Kenya since 1963. It covers the first education
system after Kenya’s independence, namely 7-4-2-3 and the second one, 8-4-4
system.
According to Ominde (1964), the
chairman of the first educational
commission in the independent
Thus the
eve of independence brought with it sweeping
reforms in the educational system. With the creation of a single nation came
the emergence of a single educational system, no longer stratified along racial
lines. Ominde Commission was
formed to introduce changes that would reflect the nation's sovereignty. The
commission focused on identity and unity, which were critical issues at the
time. Changes in the subject content of history and geography were made to
reflect national cohesion. Between 1964 and 1985, the 7-4-2-3-system was
adopted, seven years of primary, four years of lower secondary (form 1 -4), two
years of upper secondary (form 5-6), and three years of university. This does
not include the 'pre-primary' schooling provided to children under the age of
six. The principle preoccupation for Ominde’s report was introduce an education system that promoted national unity and
inculcated in the learners the desire to serve their nation (Simuyu, 2001).
7-4-2-3 system of
education lacked the capacity and flexibility to respond to the changing aspirations
of individual Kenyans and the labour market needs, in terms of new skills, new
technologies and the attitude to work (Owino, 1997).
According to
Simuyu (2001), the 7-4-2-3 policy was criticized in two major areas (2001):
i)
The policy was being too
academic and therefore not suitable for direct employment. Thus the policy
lacked orientation to employment.
ii)
The policy encouraged elitist
and individualistic attitudes among school leavers, something that was considered
incompatible to the African socialist milieu.
The Gachathi
Report (GoK, 1976, p 33-34) raised the issue of unemployment in relation to
7-4-2-3 policy: The report maintained that “One of the largest problems
confronting the country is that of unemployment. The problem is aggravated by
the annual outputs of school leavers whose number continue to swell following
the enormous expansion of the education.
Among those who
made calls for change of educational policy were, the Kenya National Assembly’s
Select Committee on unemployment (1970) as cited in Maleche (1976, p.13)
Therefore,
education, which was regarded by Kenyans as a medium for social mobility and
national economic development failed to deliver as the number of unemployed
school leavers continued to grow system in the first years of independence. ILO
also called for a change to the education system in order to help reduce
unemployment. The change consisted of increasing the technical and vocational
aspects of the curriculum. The move by ILO towards vocationalising the
education system won support from the World Bank.
The 8-4-4 system
of education was introduced in January 1985, following the Mackay report of
1982. King and McGrath (2002) claims that the 8-4-4 policy arose out of the
concerns that a basic academic education might lack the necessary content to
promote widespread sustainable (self) employment”. Therefore the 8-4-4 policy
emanated from the assumption that it would equip pupils with employable skills
thereby enabling school dropouts at all levels to be either self-employed or
secure employment in the informal sector. King &McGrath, 2002 observes that
the new policy would orient youths towards self-employment. The system strongly
emphasizes attitudinal and skills preparations for the world of work and
especially self-employment.
According
to Sifuna (1990), there are three events that led to implementation of the
8-4-4 system: the 1966 conference on education at Kericho in Kenya, which
stressed the need for integrating rural development; the International Labor
Organization mission report entitled "Employment, Incomes and Equality: A
Strategy for Increasing Productive Employment of 1972;" and the
recommendation of the National Committee on Educational Objectives and Policies
of
The
8-4-4 System is divided into primary, secondary and university excluding the
pre-school years. This sections gives a brief description of the structure.
a)
Primary Education
It
starts at age of six years and consists of eight years of schooling, out of
which first three may be in the mother tongue, while English is invariably the
language of instruction from standards 4 to 8. Most schools are public and run
on the basis of harambee system, but the number of private schools, though
small as yet, is rising very fast. Most schools are co-ed though a few
only-girls schools also exist. The primary education ends with an exam for
Kenya Certificate of primary education. Enrolment levels in primary education
are reasonable by third world standards - partly a result of the making it
free.
b)
Secondary School
Secondary
school consists of four years. Majority of secondary schools are run on the
Harambee system. About one fourth are Government schools, but only the most
meritorious are able to enter them. The private schools charge high fees and
many offer British O-levels, followed by A-levels or the International
Baccalaureate. The enrolment in secondary school is far less compared to the
primary school, as it is not free, though some plans to do that are being
prepared.
c)
University and College Education
Since
the establishment of University of Nairobi in 1970, the first public University
in Kenya, seven more general public Universities and an estimated number of 17
private Universities have been introduced, most of them run by religious organizations.
Only about 2% of children actually reach the Universities. One of the reasons
is the outflow of students belonging to the higher socioeconomic strata, who
often prefer foreign Universities.
However,
although the 8-4-4 policy has been described a major educational reform in the
history
of Kenya’s education system since independence in 1963, there are views that it
is
a
great devastation. For instance, Amutabi (2003, p.136) notes that:
The 8-4-4 system of education introduced in 1985 still
remain the most radical
and perhaps mindless change in the education in Kenya
since independence. It
has already caused great devastation to Kenya that even
if it were changed today,
the toll on the nation will be felt for many years to
come. Its devastation is
similar to that of the failed Ujamaa in Tanzania many
years after it was
officially scrapped.
The
8-4-4 system has been the subject of national debate since its inception. It
has been criticized for being broad, expensive and burdensome to pupils and
parents”. The new education policy has also been implicated in the worst
strikes that engulfed a number of schools in Kenya during the year 2001 and the
general poor quality of education (Amutabi, 2003).
Since its
inception, 8-4-4 system has been changed to be more accommodative. Several
commission have been formed with the view of improving the system: The Wanjigi
Report (GoK, 1983); The Kamunge Report (GoK, 1985), The Mungai Report (GoK,
1995); The Ndegwa Report (GoK, 1991) and The Koech Report (GoK, 1999). A
majority of these reports were either rejected or partially implemented. For
instance (Muya, 2000): The Kamunge Report (GoK, 1985) on Education and training
which recommended the reduction of examination subjects under the 8-4-4, was
implemented in secondary schools but ignored at the primary schools level; The
president (Moi) rejected the Koech Report.
Those commissions’
reports, that were implemented, made profound contributions to certain aspects
of the education system in Kenya, for instance, the Gachathi and Mackay Reports
contributed to the change of education policy from 7-4-2-3 to 8-4-4. The
Gathachi report
noted with great concern the rising rate of unemployment among school leavers
and recommended the restructuring of the education system curriculum in order
to have more streams of science, mathematics and, technical and vocational
subjects
(Republic of
Kenya, 1976). The Mackay Report influenced the extension of primary education
from seven to eight years and thus influenced the restructuring of the
education system from 7-4-2-3 to 8-4-4 and hence the introduction of technical
and vocational i.e.
practical subjects
in primary schools. They both commission reports emphasized the integration of
technical and vocational education in the entire Kenyan educational system
right from primary to tertiary levels (Simiyu, 2001).
Amutabi, M.N. (2003). The
Educational Development. 23(2003)
pp.127-144
Ominde, S. H. (1964).
Gachathi, P. (1976). Report of the
National Committee on Educational Objectives.
Muya, W. (2000).
Great expectations as new system seems likely. Daily Nation on web.
URL:http://www.nationaudio.com/News/DailyNation/2202000/News59.html
GoK (1964).
Kenya Education Commission Report, part
Government Press.
_____(1981). Second university: Report of presidential working
party
(Mackey
Report).
_____(1976). The National Committee on Educational Objectives
and
Policies(Gathachi Report).
_____ (1983). Presidential committee on unemployment
(1982/1983)
(Wanjigi Report).
Simiyu, J. W. (2001). Factors, which influence the teaching of technical and vocational
subjects in primary schools in Uasin Gishu, district. Eldoret:
(Department of educational communication).
MA dissertation (unpublished)
Suggested
Citation
Wanjohi,
A.M. (2011). Development of Education System in
Available online at www.kenpro.org/papers/education-system-kenya-independence.htm
Access pdf
Click
to access printer friendly pdf format for download.