Of the many issues that bedevil Kenya
and the region in the 21st century, developing human capital is one
of the most urgent. We must therefore prioritize human capital formation.
David
Ndii believes we cannot produce skilled workers. In Dr. Ndii’s view, “in countries
oversupplied with skilled workers, banks don’t poach tellers from each other. One
hundred thousand primary-schooled athletic AK-47 marksmen we can supply for
sure.”
The prevalence of stunting is
nearly 40 percent. A recent study reported by Save the Children in the report, Food
for Thought: Tackling child malnutrition to unlock potential and boost
prosperity, shows that compared with normal children, stunted children:
score 7 percent lower on math tests; are 19 percent less likely to be able to
read a simple sentence at age 8, and 12 percent less likely able to write a
simple sentence; and, are 13 percent less likely to be in the appropriate grade
for their age at school. The implication is that
about 40 percent of kids in every cohort in our school systems is pre-ordained
to achieve way below their potential.
Dr. Ndii is right on the money
when he says we cannot supply skilled workers because we have not invested in
quality teachers. In 2009, African Population and Health Research Center conducted
a classroom observation study focusing on math in 72 schools in six districts
in Kenya. The students’ mean score in standardized primary 6 math was 47
percent. The mean score for teachers was 60.5 percent, with the lowest teacher
scoring 17 percent and highest 94 percent.
We cannot match the prodigious talent
pools of the Philippines because in the 21st century high school
education is not the birthright of every Kenyan child but a privilege of a few.
We have an unconscionable undersupply of high schools. Moreover, the scarcity
of secondary and tertiary education resources is a major driver of the corruptible
exam-centric education system. We are more concerned about the ability of our
children to tick the correct bubble in the multiple choices questions than
their ability to think, imagine, innovate and create.
We cannot produce a critical mass
of high quality workers because less than 7percent
of the children who enter primary school make it to tertiary level. The quality of teaching in our
universities is deplorable. According to a study commissioned
by the Inter-University Council of East Africa and the East African Business
Council, 51 percent of young men and women graduating from our universities are
not employable.
We cannot produce high quality
graduates because our universities are not accountable for value, relevance and
quality. Without resorting to externally imposed accountability systems,
universities should be obligated to develop specific and clear goals for
student achievement. Universities should collect verifiable data on how
students are meeting their learning goals, across all degree programs. The
results of such self-assessment should be made available to prospective
students and their parents.
If we go on business as usual,
pay lip service to education and training, Kenya’s moment will forever tarry.
We will always be on the cusp of greatness. Kenya will rise or fall by the
quality of its human capital. No length of rail or road or size of harbor or
airport or megawatts of power can be a substitute for a dearth of skilled
labor, especially in a globalized knowledge economy.
Kenya must produce highly skilled
and engaged citizens in order to compete in today’s globalized knowledge
economy. The logic of our current system of education was conceived in the old
era of the industrial economy. Moreover, the purpose of our current system of
education was designed in the colonial era.
We are not live in the industrial
economy and we are not a colony. Hence, there is no room for an unthinking,
unquestioning underclass, which must only do as it is told. Educating a work
force for a postcolonial, new knowledge economy demands that we prepare our
children for an unknown future, to learn how to learn.
When information is a click away
on the cellphone, tablet and computer what is the relevance of a content and
fact laden curriculum? What is the role of the teacher? What is the value of
school?
Kenya’s education system must
move up the value chain. The education system, at all levels, must support
critical thinking, analytical reasoning, collaboration, problem solving, play,
innovation and discovery.
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