Amina has to break the education reform jinx

What you need to know:

  • Despite the risks taken by these able men and women, successive governments have largely ignored their recommendations.

  • But, finally, we seem to have arrived at a better method, discovered through the leadership of ‘General’ Fred Matiang’i in 2017, which is about to be realised.

  • Now, ‘general’ Matiang’i has handed over the instruments of power to ‘General’ Amina Mohamed.

The shift from the 8-4-4 to 2-7-6-3 system of education is welcome for, as scholars correctly observed, knowledge is necessary for human development and progress in life.

Critics must be reminded that our education system was adopted from the colonisers; yet, we have sought to improve on it to fight ignorance, poverty and disease — the common enemies identified at Independence. Kenyans, like South Africa's Nelson Mandela, knew that to fight these enemies is not just a question of logic but the reality of life; that freedom from hunger, ignorance and disease often remains the dividing line between war and peace.

There has been a general consensus that the most effective weapon against these enemies is education. It should be the armoury from where any force from the three enemies can be equally met.

ILLUMINATED

The fight for freedom was because some Kenyans, through interaction with the educated colonisers, became educated. Just like the escape by Plato’s prisoners, that served as an eye opener. For Plato, the great advocate for Universal Free Education based on ability not any other limit, had in the allegory of the cave mimicked society as born and imprisoned in the cave of ignorance.

In the ignoramus, the cave, they unanimously agreed that other realities outside were shadows — a perception illumined by a ray of light passing through a small hole. As free ‘others’ passed by the prison, the prisoners could hear their voices and recognise their own and see the shadows on the wall. Their conclusion was that others are shadows. The escape of one prisoner, and his recapture, however changed their understanding of the nature of others. The escapee now knew that he knew what he knew and helped others.

REDEMPTION

Knowledge is redemption. The fight for freedom in Kenya was a realisation that there are other weapons and that others also succumb to the same human fate, and that there is no superiority in human existence other than of being human and it should be the greatest call for all — freedom from hunger, disease and ignorance.

The Fathers of the Nation sought to provide this freedom through education, so that as many may know that they know to escape the prison of ignorance, which feeds poverty and disease. Kenyans have carried this tradition.

Many Kenyan warriors, led by able ‘generals’, have ‘spied’ on the best methods to achieve effective education and filed reports such as the Ominde (1964), Gachathi (1976) Mackay (1981), Wanjigi (1983), Kamunge (1985), Mungai (1995), Ndegwa (1991) and Koech (1999).

SPY REPORTS

Despite the risks taken by these able men and women, successive governments have largely ignored their recommendations. But, finally, we seem to have arrived at a better method, discovered through the leadership of ‘General’ Fred Matiang’i in 2017, which is about to be realised.

Now, ‘general’ Matiang’i has handed over the instruments of power to ‘general’ Amina Mohamed. Whether we will reach our desired end is a matter of time. But Amina must take caution; she must study reasons why earlier ‘spy’ reports have failed.

Dr Kimani (PhD) is a philosophy lecturer at Moi University. [email protected]