Why our education system needs total overhaul

Every society has its own way of educating their own so that everyone growing therein is given capacity to be productive and add value to such a society.

Communities had their informal methodologies of educating their people.

Modern societies have evolved more sophisticated ways of interpreting the experience of the world around us and ordering our responses into a coherent way of life which we call our culture.

Growth in technological research is at the very center and to a large extent the driving force in this mix.

The need to develop a stable and sustainable education system that not only meets the needs of our society but also measures well with global educational standards is one that cannot be overstated.

Over the years, our education system has gone through all kinds of transformations.

At one time, we had the A-level system which meant that a student would spend six years after primary school before joining university.

This was thrown out in favour of four years of secondary school.

Then the whole sector of public education – like many other service sectors – went through a serious deterioration.

This is when we saw a mushrooming of private primary schools, – academies – secondary schools and eventually universities.

With the coming of the Narc government in 2003, free primary education was introduced.

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Now it has been said that there shall be a review of the curriculum.

I hope this will involve restructuring so that we are in tandem with the rest of the region.

I have noted with some satisfaction that the current cabinet secretary for education is enthusiastically tackling the issue of running schools head-on.

One would hope that as he faces those errant school principals, sustainable mechanisms are being put in place to correct the rot that has accumulated over the years.

It would be extremely dangerous to do piecemeal correctional action on a service industry such as education or health.

There is need for a concerted effort to overhaul the whole system so that everyone who is involved reads from the same page.

If we were to do our education right, there are many issues that would be taken care of.

We would not only produce a workforce that carries forward the development of this nation but would also have empowered individuals who have the capacity to deal critically with realities that surround them.

The current debate about rules and regulations with regard to religious freedom is a case in point.

A properly educated individual is equipped to interpret for themselves what the equation is and follow right judgment to live productively.

Fr Wamugunda is dean of students, University of Nairobi; [email protected]