EDUCATION IN KENYA: CHALLENGES AND POLICY RESPONSES

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EDUCATION IN KENYA CHALLENGES AND POLICY
RESPONSES

• Paper Prepared for Presentation at the Council on
  Foreign Relations
• Washington DC
• By
• Prof George Saitoti
• Minister for Education, Science and Technology,
• Government of Kenya
• April 2004

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1. Introduction

• This presentation is organized as follows
• (a) A brief overview of Kenya and challenges
  that the country is faced with
• (b) A broad overview of Kenyas education system
  and the challenges facing the sector
• (c) Policy responses with an emphasis on the
  implementation of free primary education and
• (d) Concluding remarks

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1.1 Kenya Basic Facts and Indicators

• Population 32 million with 57 between ages 0-19
  yearsmeaning high dependency rates
• Economic performance-strong during 1960s and
  early 1970s slowed in 1980s and 1990s
• The poor performance of the economy attributed to
  a combination of factors including drought, poor
  donor relations, ethnic conflict associated with
  transition to multiparty democracy, advent of
  HIV/AIDS, weak institutions and governance
• Economy largely dependent on rain-fed
  agriculture, but increasingly diversifying into
  services and horticulture
• Government spending is about 22 of GDP,
  education takes largest share of government
  spending.

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Key economic indicators annual growth rate
(1997-2002)(Table 1)
 
Source Economic Commission for Africa, 2003
World Bank, 2000 Economic Survey 2003
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Government revenue and expenditure ( of GDP),
1997/1998- 2002/2003 (Table 2)
 
Source Public Expenditure Review (PER) 2003
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1.2 Sectors Share in public expenditure

• Education takes one of the largest share of
  resources allocated to a single function.
• The figure below provides details of the share of
  public expenditure by sector for 2002/2003
  financial year.
• At about 20, education sector is one of the
  priority sectors in government expenditure.

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Share of the Public expenditure by sector,
2002/03 financial year
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1.3 Kenya Key Challenges

• Poverty 57 of the population live in poverty
  (Table 6)
• HIV/AIDS prevalence- 9.4 (Table 5)
• Malaria costly and reduces productivity
• income distribution inequality very high
• Limited access to development goods-health,
  education, clean water, etc.
• Poor infrastructure (hence cost of doing
  business), crime
• Entrenching democracy, constitutional reform.

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Headcount poverty indices in Kenya
1994-2000(Table 6)
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1.4 HIV/AIDS

• HIV/AIDS impacts on social economic development.
• HIV/AIDS causes
• a reduction in size and quality of the labour
  force,
• increases healthcare expenditure,
• raises the cost of labour and
• reduces savings and investment.
• Figure 2 shows HIV prevalence from 1990 to 1998.
• In 2000 the HIV prevalence was 13.4
• Declining to 9.4 in 2003.

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HIV Prevalence in Kenya, 1990-2003 (Figure 2)
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2.0 Structure of Kenyas Education System

• The education and training sector contains
• Early Childhood Development and Pre-school
  Education
• Primary Education
• Secondary Education
• University Education
• Technical and Vocational Education and Training
• Teacher Education and Training
• Non-formal Education and Adult Education
• Special Education

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THE STRUCTURE OF KENYAS EDUCATION SYSTEM
UNIVERSITY EDUCATION (4 to 6 years)

• MIDDLE LEVEL COLLEGES
• (Maximum of 3 years)
• These include
• NATIONAL POLYTECHNICS
• TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGES
• VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL
• EDUCATION AND TRAINING
• (These include Technical
• Training Institutes, Institutes of
• Technology, and National Polytechnics).

SECONDARY EDUCATION (4 years)
PRIMARY EDUCATION (8 years)
YOUTH/VILLAGE POLYTECHNIC
KEY Indicates a strong link
(formalized). Indicates weak link (if
there is any link). Some links are in the process
of being strengthened This structure
was implemented in 1985, to replace 7-4-2-3 i.e 7
years primary, 4 years at ordinary
level, 2 years at advance level and 3 years at
the university
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2.1 Primary Education

• Is first phase of formal education system.
• The start age is 6 years and runs for 8 years.
• Promotes growth, imparts literacy and numeracy
  skills.
• Lays a firm foundation for further formal
  education and training and life-long learning.

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Challenges in primary education

• Declining enrollments in primary school (before
  2003)
• - Cost
• - Low access, retention and completion rates
• - Poverty
• -HIV/AIDS
• - Distance and poor facilities
• - Books
• - Low private returns to primary education

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Challenges(cont.)

• Primary school completion rates was 43.2 in 1990
  with a slight increase over the years to 56.4 in
  2003.
• The proportion of girls not completing their
  primary education is higher than that of boys- in
  2003 Boys 60.3 as compared to 53.2 girls.
• Wide regional and gender disparities in
  participation in education especially at the
  primary school level.
• The figure below illustrates the evolution of
  regional disparities in primary school enrolment
  over the period 1995-2003

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Primary school enrollment by province, 1994-2003
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2.2 Secondary Education

• Secondary education caters for primary school
  leavers in the 14-17 years age group.
• There are about 3,500 public and 500 private
  secondary schools
• The net enrolment is about 22 of the eligible
  age group.

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Enrolment and Completion rates

• The enrollment rates for both males (24.0) and
  females are very low(21.4).
• There are wide disparities across administrative
  regions of the country .
• About 79 of students joining secondary school
  complete their secondary education.

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Transition from primary to secondary education

• Transition rate from primary to secondary schools
  is low, with only less than 50 of primary school
  graduates entering secondary school.
• The low transition rates are due to several
  factors
• Low quality of some of the existing secondary
  schools,
• High cost of secondary education,
• Lack of perceived incentives to continue
  education.

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Challenges in secondary education

• High drop out rates(21 do not complete)
• poor performance
• limited spaces in secondary schools
• cost of secondary education
• rigidity of academic programs
• poverty and impact of HIV/AIDS

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Challenges cont...

• student/teacher ratio high
• textbooks and other complements inadequate
• equipment-especially science laboratories
  inadequate
• Inequalities
• - regional and gender disparities
• gender
• limited opportunities for handicapped population

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2.3 University Education

• Kenya has
• 6 public universities
• 17 private universities.
• Undergraduate education takes a minimum of 4
  academic years.
• Enrollment is about 63,000 students.
• Annual intake into public universities is about
  10,000 and Private universities , 6,000.

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University Education(cont)

• University education in public universities in
  Kenya is mainly financed by the government.
• The government (through the Higher Education
  Loans Board) provides loans to needy students.

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Challenges in university education

• Limited physical facilities leading to low
  access and participation rates(10)
• Poorly equipped (Lecture theatres, laboratories,
  workshops etc.)
• Cost unaffordable to majority of Kenyans
• Mismatch of training programmes with the labour
  market.

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2.4 Tertiary Education

• Tertiary education covers, Technical training
  Institutes, Institutes of Technology and National
  Polytechnics.
• Other middle level colleges including Youth
  polytechnics.
• They form Technical Vocational and Education
  Training(TVET)

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Challenges in Tertiary Education

• Under utilization of the capacity of TVET
  institutions and the non-relevance of some of
  their training programmes
•  Poor management and governance of TVET
  institutions.
•  Lack of enough trained teachers/instructors
• Lack of facilities/equipment.

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3.0 POLICY RESPONSES

• Universal Free Primary Education
• Targeted subsidies to those in secondary and
  post-secondary institutions
• Loan schemes for higher education
• Involvement of stakeholders in formulation of
  education policy

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Policy responses(cont)

• Private-public partnerships in education
  financing
• Strengthening inspectorate and school audits
  accountability and transparency in school
  management
• Periodic review of curriculum to ensure
  relevance.
• School feeding programme in ASAL and urban slums.

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4.0 Free Primary Education

• The National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) government
  introduced Free Primary Education (FPE) in
  January 2003.
• Primary school completion rates was 43.2 in 1990
  with a slight increase over the years to 56.4 in
  2003.
• The proportion of girls not completing their
  primary education is higher than that of boys- in
  2003 boys 60.3 as compared to 53.2 girls.
• Wide regional and gender disparities in
  participation in education especially at the
  primary school level.

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Free Primary Education (cont.)

• Under the policy of FPE, all fees and levies for
  primary education have been abolished.
• Besides meeting teachers salaries, the
  government committed to provide teaching and
  learning materials.
• Kshs. 650 is being disbursed for each pupil
  annually towards teaching and learning materials
• Another Kshs. 370 per pupil is to cover
  operational and other maintenance functions.

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Free Primary Education(cont.)

• The Millennium Development Goals (MDG) as
  articulated in the Jomtien 1990 and Dakar 2000
  declarations to be achieved.
• Goals underline the importance of childrens
  right to education as stipulated in the
  Childrens Act of 2001.
• FPE is central to the implementation of the
  Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS).

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Impact of Free primary education

• Increased access of 21 more children in school
  and a Gross Enrolment Ratio of 104.
• Increase in Teacher/Pupil ratio from 132 to
  140.
• Provision of learning/teaching materials.
• Improved pupil-book ratio where in grade 2 and 5
  with a near ratio of 11 in English and
  Mathematics.
•  Enhancement of quality assurance mechanisms and
  in-servicing of school inspectors.
• Enhanced capacity of school management committees
  leading to improved governance

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Primary Schools Gross Enrolment Ratio, 1990-2003
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Does Education Have Age Limit?
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Education for all
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5.0. CONCLUSION

• Kenya is faced with many challenges in the
  education sector- but government committed to
  tackling them with the assistance from
  development partners.
• In 2003 the new Government implemented its
  campaign pledges by making primary school
  education free (FPE) to all children.

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Conclusion cont..

• The Government is determined to build strong
  partnership to address major challenges facing
  the education sector.
• A National Conference on Education Training was
  convened between 27 and 29 November 2003.
• The conference yielded a wide range of policy
  recommendations across all levels of the
  education sector.

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National Conference on Education and Training-
charting the way forward

• The key policy issues from the conference
  include
• The need for review of teachers norms
• Cost-effective expansion of secondary education
• Diversification of financing
• Review of early childhood development
• Possible legislative changes, and
• Strengthening of information communication
  technology
•  The Ministry of Education, Science and
  Technology is collating the recommendations and
  resolutions.
• A Sessional Paper will be prepared for
  presentation to Parliament.

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Way Forward(cont.)

• The Government has formulated an Economic
  Recovery Plan to reverse the general economic
  decline.
• The plan is to encourage private sector
  investments.
• To create wealth and employment opportunities.
• The Government is targeting improvement in
  governance.
• Improving access to basic services is a priority.
• Goal is to empower all Kenyans to acquire skills
  for productive employment in the long run.

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END

• Thank you