Melissa Wilkin
28 November 2007
EDUCATION HAS LONG BEEN one of the most powerful political persuaders throughout the world, and Kenya is no different. Politicians are all claiming that they will give more and do better in terms of the education of our children. But are all their claims and discussion just hot air?
The Government says there are many well-trained teachers, that we are actually exporting them as a resource. Why then is it so difficult for some schools to find teachers? And why are there so many issues with those we do have?
The reality is that this aspect of education needs some real attention. The education sector strives to provide a place in the world for a whole new generation of Kenyans. To do this, they require certain tools and teachers have got to be top of that list. The question is then, why is there so much discontent among teachers in so very many areas?
These people are our primary resource, but all is not as it seems when it comes to their training and management. The current system is leaking, but this ship needn't sink as long as someone takes responsibility for recognising the holes and plugging at least some of them!
RESEARCH SHOWS EDUCATION IS the way forward for improvement in standards of living, economic welfare, and even health issues. It can lead to international social, political and economic success and has the power to change the lives of individuals and entire nations.
The good news is that Kenya's vision concurs. The introduction of free primary education in 2003 has had a huge impact. It may not be the full one million school enrollers that are claimed, but it is certainly a significant number.
What's more, mistakes in the system have been recognised and addressed, and revisions such as those made recently to the curriculum in partnership with the UK agencies have meant the management systems are much better and the curriculum has become more relevant.
But still the teachers - the basis of it all, the 'fonts of all knowledge' - are neither being trained appropriately in the first place, nor treated with enough respect once they are.
The current TSC system for both teacher training and work placements is likely to kill off a large proportion of any passion that teachers might have had at an early stage.
Why are so many not employed until three, four, five years after finishing their training? What is appealing about being moved miles from family and friends to an area you neither understand nor care for? This only encourages corruption as people pay their way out of placements, particularly in distant rural areas.
And furthermore, once these teachers get into the classroom, they frequently realise they have been given only the very basic tools for controlling and getting to know the enormous classes they face.
Without knowledge of good teaching practices, structuring of classes, management of group work, discipline (without the cane) or resource creation, they cannot be truly in control or self-sufficient. We are asking the impossible of them.
Of course, there are two sides to every story. A huge proportion of teachers out there do not deserve either respect or, indeed, the title 'teacher'.
As an example, I discovered that a school near Gilgil, some years back, started the year without a headmaster. The teachers did not have a timetable. They claimed it was his job to allocate subjects and before that was done, they simply could not teach. It was six weeks before a headmaster was posted and during that six weeks, the teachers sat in the staff-room doing nothing and the pupils sat in the classrooms learning nothing.
On a more general note, headteachers are frequently, and with little notice, called to the "office" for meetings that are postponed or held the next day, sometimes being absent for three or four days of the week.
In addition, the way in which the loans system is structured makes it difficult for the average person to access money over and above what they earn.
MEANWHILE, A GOVERNMENT JOB means automatic approval for a loan. Naturally a large number of teachers have their eye on this prize when they enter the profession and, once qualified, have their eyes firmly on whatever they have invested in - cattle, a shop, even a private school.
I spoke to a boy who has received sponsorship from a resident of Gilgil to move from a government school to a private one because the education was so poor, and Mwangi told me of some of the major differences he immediately noticed: "At my old school teachers often only taught for about 10 minutes; they seemed to always have other things to do."
This laissez faire attitude by too many teachers to our next generation's education is absolutely not acceptable and the aspects of the system that cause or allow these attitudes need, desperately and urgently, to be changed.
Ms Wilkin teaches English and Media in an international school near Nakuru.
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