Manage education well to remain relevant

What you need to know:

  • It is important to accept that a lot more is happening in the education sector at all levels.
  • All these developments are good for us in the long run.

Under normal circumstances, one would certainly not doubt that a good education is the key to opportunity for many people.

It opens up immense possibilities that would otherwise be out of reach.

As a matter of fact I have always thought that education should be considered the foundation stone upon which those other pillars of Vision 2030 — I do not hear much of it these days — are built.

It is not a wonder then that parents will go to any length to see that their children get a good education.

The shape our society will take in the future will, to a large extent, depend on how we manage the education sector.

At the moment there is serious discontent with matters of Form One selection, what percentage of pupils from private schools can access public schools, rating of candidates and schools and so on.

ACCEPTING CHANGE

I find that the issue about private schools has an interesting angle to it.

While they have always existed, they became a really popular phenomenon when the public education system started failing — like many other institutions of society — in the 1980s and 90s.

So one might argue that since they educated Kenyan children, they are subsidising some of what they government should be doing. I am sure that they also pay taxes.

There may be merit in the new system of distributing primary school graduates to the various categories of secondary schools.

All the same we would have to accept that shock waves are being felt everywhere.

I wonder is it just the fact that accepting change is not always easy?

Or could it be that not enough information was given to the Kenyan public about the same? Whatever the case I just pray it is all for the good of the future of Kenya.

EXPANSION

Talking of the school system, selection and so on, it is important to accept that a lot more — both good and bad — is happening in the education sector at all levels.

Look at the expansion that has taken place at the level of university education.

Many more people are now accessing university education that would never have had the opportunity to get anywhere near a university.

Public universities have opened their doors to a lot more people than would have qualified before.

Private entrepreneurs and organisations have opened universities that are availing learning possibilities for thousands of Kenyans.

All these developments are good for us in the long run.

Some people are of course a little skeptical about the mass production and commercial nature of our education system.

Mechanisms will have to be put in place to control quality if we still want to remain relevant and competitive.

Father Wamugunda is Dean of Students, University of Nairobi; [email protected]