Back in 2003 after the NARC government assumed office and
rolled out the Free Primary School program as promised in the campaign pledges,
Kenyans were a smiling lot; heaping praises to the Kibaki led government.
Fighting ignorance was one of the three post-independence goals for all African
states. Eradicating Hunger and Diseases
were the other two. None has been achieved more than fifty years later. I beg to
dwell on Ignorance and leave the rest for a later date.
The enrollment of pupils in January 2003 hit record levels
with 1.3 million kids joining primary schools.
It was a fete to recon. The
achievements of this noble program cannot be understated.
In the endeavor to have its citizens enjoy a good education,
the then government did not stop at abolishing tuition fees in primary schools.
On the other hand institutions of higher education had previously barred
students from pursuing courses of their choice through a quarter system of the
so called Cut-off points. Kenyans were given a reprieve with the popularization
of the ‘parallel’ university programs that absorbed the ‘rejected’ students;
the ones who could not attain the grades on or above the cut off points set out
and renewed annually by the Joint Admission Board (JAB)
We saw an upsurge in the intake of students in higher
institutions of learning. It culminated from admission into Public
Universities and Institutes of the new
Module II ,self sponsored, and chartering of Privately owned institutions.
That is where the rain started beating us folks. The self
sponsoring program and private universities turned into money minting machines.
The noble mission to provide a good and quality education was thrown under the
bus. It was no longer an endeavor of sharpening the skills of the populous
rather a wealth amassing one. All that mattered is the number of students
enrolled every entry. Let me explain with analogies:
I have seen in a certain private university a class of fifty
I.T students with a single functioning computer! My pals used crack jokes of an institute in
Thika town which was running adverts on TVs
that featured somebody operating a computer; they said the computer was
the reception secretary’s not students’.
Another institute is located at Thika Industrial Area, a
story above a local milk depot store! To market itself, It had pamphlets and
brochures circulating all over the country that bore an image of a Photo
shopped building towering the an unknown location, the administration block methinks.
Quite impressive and captivating. A young man from my village fell for the
tower’s magnificence. I once met he and others carrying chairs along a three
hundred meters tarmac stretch to YMCA Centre. They had a class to attend. The
classes at the ‘main campus’ could not accommodate all the students, hence the
carrying of chairs to the rented place was the norm.
Campuses in major towns in Kenya are no better. They are
situated in defaced buildings above noisy bars, brothels and stalls trading
magendo goods. Classes are over congested, dirty and poorly ventilated. NO
library. If any it is a stock of old
irrelevant books bearing stamps of C.M.S Mwithu-Mwiru Primary School and torn
copies of Parents Magazine Issues 12! Hostels are ten square feet with triple
decker beds. Bed bug infested. ‘Lecturers’ cheats with falsified certificates;
better at exchanging grades for quickies with the naïve female students.
One wonders how the hell on earth such humpty dumpty
institutes acquired operation go-aheads and worse their recent over-publicized
ISO Certificates of Quality! Corruption,
dear compatriots has compromised the quality of education in Kenya. The
required letters of accreditation and other document are sold to the highest
bidder like a piece of land at Muguga Kiambu county. No inspection No
nothing just greasing of the hands.
On the other hand Public Universities are not any better.
They enroll more self-sponsored students against the stretched resources. Their
newly built gates and rioting students are the trending topics in social media
NOT Researches and Academic Publications. Chairs of their Students’ Unions are
akin to African strongmen, in East Africa only Museveni can outshine their stay
in office. The elections that bring forth these leaders are marred with
malpractices. Tribal hegemony, bribes and administration patronage carry the
day.
We have heard of the Council of Legal
Education demanded the closure of Moi University School of Law in two months
time for what it termed as failure to meet requirements to offer the courses
and poor performance on the inspection of facilities and resources used to
offer the legal program. Kisii
University students have been rioting following an order by the Commission for
University to close down its campuses across the country for being in pathetic
conditions; premises unfit for habitation, small lecture room, poor ventilation
and sanitation among other contraventions of
Universities Standards and Guidelines 2014. This must not rest at Kisii only,
let the whip be cracked on all universities and the students ought to save us
their Ignorance.
At the time of completing secondary school education,
majority of students don’t know what they will pursue at higher levels. Our
education system has no regard of what one is best at or talent. It is a
blind-folded run to anywhere. It is unfortunate that the biggest percentage of Kenyan kids are in
school to mature physically, to ‘grow’, not to be more knowledgeable, acquire life
skills or better the community and self.[To be continued]
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