Africa, Development & Aid, Education, Headlines, Poverty & SDGs

KENYA: Free Secondary Schooling Policy Faces Testing Times

Kwamboka Oyaro

NAIROBI, Mar 26 2008 (IPS) - When Kenya&#39s government introduced free primary schooling in 2003, vast numbers of additional pupils were brought into the education system overnight, putting it on a steep learning curve.

A dearth of teachers, scarcity of textbooks and inadequate facilities were amongst the problems that made for a bumpy ride as primary schools went from educating about six million children in 2002 to the current total of eight million. And five years on, questions remain about the quality of basic education that is being provided to Kenyan children.

Arguably, these experiences should have proved an excellent dress rehearsal for the introduction of free secondary education earlier this year. But, were the lessons of the primary schooling initiative taken into account? Responses to this question are mixed, not least concerning the matter of facilities.

Too few classrooms, again?

Last year, there were 1.2 million children in Kenya&#39s high school system. Some 400,000 students entered secondary school in 2007 – about 60 percent of those who sat the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education – a number expected to have risen by 200,000 this year with the introduction of subsidies to cover tuition and certain related costs.

According to some estimates, at least 4,000 new classrooms, the equivalent of 250 schools, are needed to accommodate the 1.4 million pupils expected in public secondary schools during 2008 (learners returned to class Jan. 14). Kenya currently has 4,478 public high schools, many of which are in a state of disrepair and lack essential facilities.

"Perhaps before introduction (of the secondary schooling initiative), the whole of last year should have been used to prepare for the programme by building extra classes and hiring teachers – but this was not done," education consultant Gilbert Obuna told IPS.

Education Secretary Karega Mutahi maintains that existing schools can accommodate the increase in secondary learners: "There are some schools which are under-utilised while others are congested. Our insistence…is to ensure balance in all schools."

Moses Ikiara, executive director the Nairobi-based Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research and Analysis, also believes more efficient use could be made of the facilities at certain schools.

"What the government should have done was to have incentives to attract students and teachers to such schools. Experienced teachers and a tradition of good performance attract parents to schools. Perhaps the government should post trained teachers to such schools," he told IPS.

However, the issue of teaching staff is itself problematic.

The Teachers Service Commission, the governmental agency that employs instructors, has told IPS that there are plans to take on 4,000 extra teachers to cater for the additional high school students – essential in light of the education ministry&#39s limits on class size. Schools must have a minimum of 40 and maximum of 45 students per class to receive money under the new initiative.

But presently, authorities have frozen the recruitment of additional teachers, only employing staff to replace those leaving the 235,000-strong service. So, is the experience of free primary education – certain teachers having to deal with overly-large classes – being repeated in high schools?

Last year, the average teacher-pupil ratio in Kenya&#39s secondary schools already stood at one to 45.

"With larger class enrolment our workload is more. This makes our members do more. The government should either employ more teachers or compensate our members for taking more lessons," Arthur Waweru of the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers said in an interview with IPS.

Concerns about quality

A lack of facilities at schools, busier teachers…What do these trends spell for the quality of education in Kenyan secondary institutions?

Indications are that many public high schools are already struggling to perform well in national examinations, a situation that could be worsened by pupils entering institutions that are ill-equipped to receive them.

"It is obvious that quality will be compromised," Judy Achoka, head of the education planning and management department at the Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology in western Kenya, told IPS. "The government was not ready."

Notes David Aduda, chairman of the African Network of Education Journalists: "Getting children through secondary school without providing quality education is not good enough. Secondary education should properly prepare children for their careers and future life; without passing well in national examinations one&#39s career choices are limited."

Subsidy problems

Then there is the matter of how far government&#39s school subsidies stretch.

Under the secondary schooling programme, authorities will pay schools about 130 dollars per pupil annually, an amount that is to be allocated in lump sums at the start of each of the three school terms, and which is expected to cover tuition and administration costs, school maintenance and improvements, and class activities.

Parents are still responsible for uniforms and lunches – and the subsidy does not cover residence costs for children at boarding school.

A committee was established by government at the end of last year to set a ceiling for what parents should be expected to pay.

However, certain principals stand accused of trying to extract more money from parents – while the school heads, in turn, have complained of delays in receiving subsidies, saying this obliged them to seek operating funds in the interim.

Government officials ascribed these delays to schools being slow to open new bank accounts that authorities have deemed necessary to avoid misappropriation of subsidies.

But, what of children from the poorest families, which cannot afford even the top-up fees?

"The tuition is just a small fraction of the financial requirement for a secondary school student," noted Achoka, adding that a substantial number of Kenyans "live below the poverty line and this will compromise school attendance of many children from poor households."

According to the latest United Nations Human Development Report, 22.8 percent of Kenyans make do on less than a dollar a day.

Nonetheless…

In spite of these problems, the new secondary education policy has been welcomed by some. Bright children from poor homes will now have a chance to develop, they say – not a perfect chance, perhaps, but an opportunity nonetheless.

"In my school there are many orphans and it is hard to send them home for school fees. Once the government pays all students&#39 tuition fees, the school doesn&#39t have to rely on the few parents who are able to clear the annual school fees. With the lump sum we can plan other activities, such as equipping libraries and laboratories," Mathew Moywaywa, the principal of a secondary school in Gucha, south-west of Nairobi, said in an interview with IPS.

Noted Sara Cameron, chief communications officer at the Kenyan office of the United Nations Children&#39s Fund, "Investment in secondary education pays off in healthier families, in a better qualified workforce, stronger economies and reduced poverty."

"Few countries have made the breakthrough into middle income status without the majority of their citizens having access to secondary education," she told IPS.

These words were echoed by Ikiara.

"We will be expecting too much not to expect hiccoughs in the initial stages of implementation. After all, a long journey starts with a first step. Kenya is on the right track," he noted. "If you wait for a perfect situation, you will never do anything."