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EDUCATION IN KENYA SINCE INDEPENDENCE

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Veronica Onjoro

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EDUCATION IN KENYA SINCE INDEPENDENCE

After independence in 1963, the African post-independent government sought to rectify the
anomalies created by the colonial education structure through increasing oportunities for the
Kenyan African population. The belief that educations holds the key in promoting social and
economic progress played an important role in the growth and spread of education in Kenya
mainly as a means of providing qualified persons for the growing economic and
administrative institutions left behind by the colonial government (Court and Ghai: 1974). In
addition several commissions were founded to address the challenges facing the education
sector and to seek out a more responsive educational system; these included the
commissioning of the Kenya Education Commission known as the Ominde Report in 1964,
the report proposed an education system that would foster national unity and African
Socialism; the report of the National Committee on Education Objectives and Policies
(Gachathi Report: 1976) ; the Mackay report (1981) with recommendation that saw the
removal of advanced (A) level secondary education and the Commission of Higher Education
Report that saw the adoption of 8.4.4 system in 1985; the Kamunge report of 1988, the Koech
Report of 2000 and more recent, The Sessional Paper No 1of 2005 on Policy Framework for
Education, Training and ResearchRECENT policy initiatives geared towards the
improvement and access of education has been introduced under the Economic Recovery
Strategy for Wealth and Employment (ERS) 2003-2007) Key policy reforms include the
development of Sessional Paper No 1 of 2005 which has resulted in the adoption of a Sector
Wide Approach Programme Planning (SWAP) to the provision of education. This approach
involves different stakeholders to support education both at the Primary and Secondary level

of education. Through the SWAP process, the government and development partners have
developed the Kenya Education Sector Wide Approach Programme (KESSP), this is a
programme aimed to improve access, equity, quality, retention and quality completion rates
both at the primary and secondary school level of education (MOEST: 2005). On
operationalization of KESSP in 2005, key developments have been introduced within the
education sector. At the Primary level these reforms involve the decentralization of functions
from the national to institutional levels, a move that is aimed at bringing services closer to the
beneficiary communities. The dispatching of funds to schools for the purchase of
instructional materials and other support services at the institutional level and most important,
the introductions and implementation of Free Primary Education (FPE) in 2003. The
introduction of
FPE is in line with the Millennium development Goals, which calls for the attainment of
universal Primary education for all school going children by the year 2015 (Ministry of
Education: 2004). At the secondary level, the government has introduced the disbursement of
bursaries for needy students; a recent initiative to improve access to students at this level
includes the subsidization of Secondary School fees by Government under the Free
Secondary Education Programme. To extend coverage in more remote Arid and Semi Arid
regions (ASAL), bursaries, scholarship and grants have been extended to students residing in
these regions, additionally, students from disadvantaged backgrounds such as informal
settlements and slum areas are to benefit from these initiatives. At the tertiary level,
Technical, Industrial, Vocation and Entrepreneurship Training Institutions (TIVET) have
been revitalized and more mid-level colleges have been brought into the mainstream
educational system. Access to institutions of higher learning has increased a factor that has
been attributed to the introduction of a variety of certificate, diploma, degree and master
courses. Enrollment in these institutions has also increased dramatically due to the
introduction of Parallel, sandwich and evening programmes. The number of private
universities has also increased considerably to date 5 The Minister of Education appointed
the Ominde Commission to assess the educational resources and to advise the government on
the formulation and implementation of national policies for education (Sifuna 1990). The
commission noted that independence created a condition that would not allow racially
segregated schools such as those that existed during the colonial era. The commission
recommended that, since independence signified the birth of the nation, education should
serve as a means of uniting the different racial and ethnic groups that make up the nation.The
commission's decisions were influenced by international opinion and internal political
socioeconomic forces published in several works including the "High Level Manpower
Requirements and Resources in Kenya, 1964-1970" and "The Development Plan 1964-1980,
and African Socialism and its Application to planning in Kenya." From these publications,
the commission identified a direct relationship between education and economic
growth. It was recommended that educating upper- and middle-class manpower was needed
by developing countries, and could accelerate Kenya's economic pace. The commission
endorsed an educational policy objective that called for free primary education. Under these
recommendations, Kenya chose to emphasize an expansion of higher levels of education that
was geared to meet the manpower needs, and as a means to increase primary school
enrollment. From 1964 to 1969, deliberate efforts were made to slow the growth of primary
schools, which had enrollment increases of 20 percent, rising from approximately 1 million to
1.2 million. The Government recognizes education as a basic human right and a powerful tool
for human and national development since independence in 1963. Nearly 80 per cent of the
governments social sector spending and about 40 per cent of the national recurrent

expenditure go to education. This translates to 10 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product
(GDP). The number of students enrolled at various levels has substantially increased
especially over the last six years. At the Early Childhood, Development and Education
(ECDE), enrolment grew from 483,148 children in 1982 to 1.69 million children in 2007
(814,930 girls and 876,163 boys). Enrolments in formal public primary schools grew from
891,533 pupils in 1963 to 5.9 million in 2002 and 11 million pupils in 2012 (5 million girls
and 5.5 million boys) while at secondary level, enrolments grew from 30,000 students in
1963 to 1, 180,268 students (540,874 girls and 639,393 boys) in 2012. At the university level
the numbers rose from 59,195 in 2000/01 academic year to 133, 710 in 20010/12 academic
year (female 36,603 and male 97,107). Recent Government policy documents and
programmes have focused on the importance of education in eliminating poverty, disease
and ignorance. These include: Economic Recovery Strategy for Wealth and Employment
Creation (ERSWC) 2003-2007; the Sessional Paper No. 1 of 2005 on EducationTraining and
Research; policies on the HIV and AIDS and Gender in Education (2007); the Non-Formal
Education sub-sector and the Nomadic Education sub-sector policies currently being
developed; and the most
recent Kenyas Vision 2030, which aims atturning
the economy into a middle

income country in twenty years. Commitment to International Conventions and National

legislations Kenya is a signatory to several International Conventions and Agreements and
has ratified a number of them thus committing her to the implementation of the
recommendations there in. Some of these Conventions and Declarations include: the
Universal Declaration on Human Rights (1948); the Minimum Age Convention (1973); the
Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women(CEDAW) of
1979; Convention onthe Rights of the Child (CRC)

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