I concur with you, Dr. Ndemo on the need to change our minds in the education provision. Actually, you have expound my argument and made it easier for my elaboration. If we say the current system is oriented towards white collar jobs, while dismissively giving other careers a raw deal, then the system, in my view, is a contributor to this. I guess the reason sanitary towels are not part of the FPE, is because the system does not have the provision for such. Purchasing of stationery without proper facilities for girls and boys will continue to impact negatively on our education. I am just wondering suppose the Education PS said they spent part of the so-called misused funds to purchase sanitary towels for girls in schools would that be scam? I believe there are so many avenues for improving our education and ICT is definitely one of them. On 08/01/2010, bitange@jambo.co.ke <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Dear Solomon, I want to give you a different perspective of ourselves as a people. We tend to shift blame here and there when the problem is us. There is nothing wrong with any system in this country including our constitutional order. We simply like to complicate our lives.
On education, we have never thought about the economics of this animal called education. In the 21st century we still have more than 60% of our high school graduates going into arts subjects. Majority into business education even when we know that the field is saturated or in economic terms supply has exceeded exceeded demand. The cosequence of not understanding this simple economic is that we have too many unemployed graduates.
At the same time if you put up an add for an executive Chef, you will hardly find our locals applying. We have gemstons, gold and diamonds within the region yet our children have never had the interest to get into these employable fields. Mzungus told us that careers were in Medicine, Business, Teaching and Legal. Ever since we want our children to pursue these fields. Do you blame a system for this? The other day a friend of mine's son said he wanted to become a chef. His father almost broke down.
If we were honest, it is not difficult to provides pads to all our daughters but most of us are demented with corruption. The school milk programme was great but we know most of the resources ended up in some people's pockets.
In my view we need mental re-orientation to change our attitudes. How do you explain unemployment when manufacture of bar soap is as easy as drinking water yet none of the Africans are in this trade. We Gladly import dried tomatoes to the tune of Ksh. 15 billion when 50% of our tomato produce ends up in the waste. We harvet bumber crop then we start competing with weavils yet our graduates with expertie in post harvet from JKUAT languish without jobs.
Solomon, it is not the systems that we need to change.
Ndemo.
I'm hoping one day to have children and take them to school to acquire their inalienable right, called education. But then, I'm puzzled - Is 8-4-4 or the British System the best? I have passed through 8-4-4 and I can list a thousand and one blunders the system has. One of which is the grading system. A child studies for more than eight years and a single grade determines whether the child will continue with the next level of education, remain semi-literate, end up on the police's most wanted list or, if lucky, I jump from one school to another oiling the hands of the principals to accept my child. That's how this system is made... because it has refused to change to the demands in time. For instance, how many of you have ever taken a look at the Education Act? You'd be surprised that this document was last reviewed in 1980. It does not even have a room for private schools, Standard 8 or even other curricula as we have in Kenya today. It has *Harambee Schools,* as some of the main schools in Kenya. By far, I know these schools were converted into Community Schools or better still, NFEs!
When I got a copy of the Act, I thought it was a wrong document, but hey, it's the same document which is supposed to offer direction in our education standards, yet by fact, it's a document that exists on the minds of many.
So, as Dr. Ndemo has put it, ICT can change our education perception, wht about the education system itself, which is almost 30 years old since it was last reviewed, will it surely change the status quo?
I find it callous when politicians are busy talking about a new constitution and I'm sure they do not have an idea that Education Act is much older than the clarion for new constitutional dispensation!
I pray that I'll not think of sending my child to an 'international school' because I'm a patriotic Kenyan. The educational reforms need to be done ASAP, because we are ending up training children to pas exams and not understand the values and goals of education in relation to their lives.
I wish some senior person in the Ministry of Education were on this list!
2010/1/7 Akich Kwach <kwach@archway-productions.com>
Dkt Ndemo, Thanks for sharing such well researched facts, it is sad how girls are suffering in the countryside and have to spend many days out of school. MoH should be availing those sanitary towels to school girls just as they are dispensing condoms to prevent HIV/AIDS. The concept of Continious Assessment is a good one; however, this is likely to experience abuse as a result of dishonesty and corruption going by the tradition of our countrymen and women. The society and its people requires to be morally upright for such useful systems to serve and achieve their set objectives. Thanks also for throwing light on how ICT will help improve quality of education through e-learning, though it will take long as its implementation depends on other factors such as energy.
This afternoon, I met a man carrying the traditional "mabati box/ suitcase" for boarding school students and after egaging him in a brief chat, it emerged he didn't have a child reporting to form-one / secondary school. He told me he is taking his son to to a private primary school as he can nolonger gamble with the future of his child in a public school. That is how serious the issue is out here. Todate, I have not seen or heard any communication from MoE commiting to look into the crisis in public primary schools, and they are only telling us that funds are being disbursed to schools; BUT FOR WHAT? Just to balance the books of accounts Or to deliver quality service? Is Kenya going through mid-life crisis? I guess we have a senior person from the MoE on the list.
Akich Kwach
----- Original Message ----- From: <bitange@jambo.co.ke> To: "Akich Kwach" <kwach@archway-productions.com> Cc: <bitange@jambo.co.ke>; "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" < kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Thursday, January 07, 2010 3:12 PM
Subject: Re: [kictanet] [ke-internetusers] Re: KNEC giving candidates, parents a raw deal
Akich, I understand your frustration. We need to emulate the British education reforms. Final exams only account for a small percentage. Let me explain the depth of our education problems then show you why we need to change the status quo.
World over, Girls do better than boys between ages 6 and 13. Boys only begin to be competitive after testestron kicks in. In rural Kenya very bright young girls are wasted every year because by 13, they begin their periods and in the absence of sanitary towels, they miss classes between 5 and seven days every month. Obviously their KCPE results come out poor and then we consign them to becoming House Girls in urban centers.
We can change this nonsense with ICT. We need to send end term exam result to a central database. Each school can scan the report card and have it sent to KNEC. We then use the continuous assessment for up to 60% of testing. KCPE will then contribute the 40%. Let us go back to our girls with this model. A girl who performed well up to std. 6 or 7 will need very little marks to pass KCPE.
This model will actually eliminate cheating. It will also save many of our daughters from being condemed for sins that are not of their own making.
I am hoping we get to roll out Digital Villages countrywide in order to provide an e-learning platform that would level the playing field. This will be our little contribution to our education.
Ndemo.
Listeners,
Thanks to Dkt Ndemo, Esther, Sam and all who have been contributing to this debate which is of a great national concern. As they say with education; "You are a beneficiary OR affected either directly or indirectly". From the education system, a nation produces men and women who contribute to national development. A portion of the dropouts decides to give the communities a preveiew of life in hell in the name of criminal activities.
Ndemo mentioned issues of teachers being recruited locally, hence a sinking community will continue sinking becauce they don't want to see "foreign teachers". How comes policemen are posted anywhere in the country yet they earn less than teachers (ex-bribery)? Esther's proposal of introducig bridging courses has been a success in private universities and has given opportunities to thousands to build their careers. If Sam's ideas are implemented, we shall have housegirls who are equiped to be trusted with the young ones with basic health standards, cooking and other domestic needs.
This week, I rejected some of the textbooks given to my daughter at a public school in the name of FPE because they were in pathetic conditions and I have buy them myself if she has to learn. To conclude, how many years shall it take us to be near education system like in UK where the former Prime Minister, Tony Blair once said with pride that he went to a public school.
Akich Kwach
----- Original Message ----- From: Sam Aguyo To: kwach@archway-productions.com Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Sent: Thursday, January 07, 2010 10:14 AM Subject: Re: [kictanet] [ke-internetusers] Re: KNEC giving candidates,parents a raw deal
Listerners,
My view is that we need more of a change of attitude than anything else. Our minds are more of exam driven than the ultimate delivery this happens at all levels and we end up churning out questionable graduates at all levels.
Lets assume at the end of KCPE those who have not made it to form one can be absorbed at training institutions that train nannies, househelps, garden boys etc. Those who have joined form one can sit another exam KJSE and those who have not made it can be trained to be professional something. At form KCSE those who have not made it can also be trained to do something else it goes on and on. This to many sounds outrageous but it may not be far from the reality.
At the speed we are going to have everybody attain university education and end up with a white collar job, am reluctant to be near my brothers and sisters, they are wild since am not doing enough to abtain them a white collar job despite paying fees all the way to university.
Sometimes we need to borrow example this time round from US where people honour all careers and pay for it. By the way with due respect what is the profession of Mr Tiger Woods wife?
Sam
------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Esther Muchiri <> To: saguyo@yahoo.com Cc: Skunk Works <skunkworks@my.co.ke>; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>; ke-users <ke-internetusers@bdix.net> Sent: Wed, January 6, 2010 8:43:04 PM Subject: Re: [kictanet] [ke-internetusers] Re: KNEC giving candidates, parents a raw deal
Now that we all agree there is a problem with our 8-4-4 system, especially considering the number of dropouts every year, how about an introduction of 'bridging' courses for those who did not perform so well (due to one reason or another)? I am sure there are many other factors that contribute to poor performance, e.g. panic.
Would it be wrong if some private secondary schools decided to admit those who failed (say 180-250 marks) into form one, but then offer a mandatory 3 month bridging course to bring them at par with the more qualified candidates? This would reduce the number of dropouts, and perhaps give them hope and a chance to complete secondary school. I know universities offer bridging courses - why not high school?
-----Original Message----- From: kictanet-bounces+emuchiri=andestbites.com@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+emuchiri <kictanet-bounces%2Bemuchiri>= andestbites.com@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of bitange@jambo.co.ke Sent: Wednesday, January 06, 2010 7:26 PM To: emuchiri@andestbites.com Cc: Skunk Works; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions; ke-users Subject: Re: [kictanet] [ke-internetusers] Re: KNEC giving candidates, parents a raw deal
Akich, The dynamics of our democratized society are too complex. As a child growing up in rural Kisii we had teachers from different parts of the country. Our people (Kenyans) demanded that we must go local and remove "foreigners". We escalted this foreigner concept to the extent we were in Dec. 2007.
Local teachers now have to finish with their small enterprises before they consider students. Some have to till their shambas first. These are the people we call hard working and we all know about this. There is no passion to teach anymore and when they teach, they do it in venacular. Ministry of education knows about this. The solution is difficult and highly political. Reforms will see at least 50,000 teachers retired. Anybody implementing this kind of reforms would be attacked from all corners including yes parents.
In my view we need to raise the minimum teacher qualification to undergraduate and they work anywhere in the country as any other civil servant. We must tie performance to any pay increase. Atwoli apende asipende.
Just my personal thoughts.
Regards
Ndemo.
Daktari Ndemo, As one of the concerened parents and citizens, I must admit the truth can be sometimes very bitter especially when you compare the qaulifications of public primary school teachers with that of private schools. The disparity is even worse when you look at the rural schools. On the issue of whether we need the KCPE exams, I would request you to pose that question to your couterpart at the MoE Prof Karega and share with us his opinion, whether personal or official.
Cheers and Happy New Year
Akich Kwach
----- Original Message ----- From: <bitange@jambo.co.ke> To: "wesley kirinya" <kiriinya2000@yahoo.com> Cc: "Skunk Works" <skunkworks@my.co.ke>; "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>; "ke-users" <ke-internetusers@bdix.net> Sent: Wednesday, December 30, 2009 1:46 PM Subject: Re: [ke-internetusers] Re: [kictanet] KNEC giving candidates,parents a raw deal
Dear Wesley, No one should fail an exam because we have nowhere to take them if they passed. Already we have B grade students who are not getting into Universiry.
Every year we get similar concerns but no one has ever asked if indeed we need KCPE exams. To date I do not know the objective of this exam. If our promlem just like everybody else is literacy, then we only need the KCSE exams. The assumption here is that by the time someone sits for KCSE, they would be literate and mature enough to consider options. At KCPE level, I am afraid we keep on increasing our illiteracy levels the moment 250,000 fail to proceed further.
In my view we all have failed to analyse this problem objectively. Media keeps on reporting but not analysing the problems. Citizens continue to complain and not making proposals to the Government. The KNUT, parents, politicians have subjected the Ministry into crisis mode instead of reforming the sector. KNUT knows that at least one third of teacheers in Primary Public Schools cannot pass or did not pass KCPE. Then we ask why Private Schools perform better?
Ndemo.
I'm concerned about the hundreds of thousands of students that will miss high school. Last year 250,000 missed it. Over a five year period, this adds up to more than a million, in a country whose population is about 40 million!
Out of those who go to high school, only a handful end up in university. Someone should do a sturdy on the loss to our economy. The government spends lots on money to educate 250,000 people annually who will not get to high school. With our current systems, most of these 250,000 will not get descent employment/stable sources of income. Most of them come from rural areas, which are the areas that need serious development and skilled man-power to drive the development. If I opened a branch of my company in some rural area of Kenya, who will I employ? Even if I employ some people, they would be threatened by the Mungiki-types (children who join gangs in order to extort money)
We need every child in Kenya, willing to go to school, to be able to archieve at least Diploma level. Without that, we should forget vision 2030 and competing with India and other Asian countries! The Chinese will continue building our roads, as Kenyans sweep them with brooms, not even specialized machines!
I would like to bring in a different perspective as to the low performance, which someone mentioned as seriously wrong. What would happen if most students passed their exams, especially now with record numbers enrolling in schools? Where will they go? You would have students with B grades missing high school. That would be a great embrassment to goverment.
If money is available to buy fleets of new cars (which dont really add to our GDP), surely there should be money for better quality of education for our children (which definately adds to our GDP).
This is a national disaster.
O~(
--- On Wed, 12/30/09, Akich Kwach <kwach@archway-productions.com> wrote:
From: Akich Kwach <kwach@archway-productions.com> Subject: Re: [kictanet] KNEC giving candidates, parents a raw deal To: kiriinya2000@yahoo.com Cc: kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke Date: Wednesday, December 30, 2009, 9:39 AM
Gentlemen, Thanks for sharing your concerns. I would agree with MM and Zachary because KNEC ought to have known every candidate and parents would be interested in getting their results at the earliest hour and should have tested the system's capacity ahead of time. It is sad upto this hour, I spent on SMS three times and no reply yet. If such trends continue, the ICT investments might just be a wate of public funds and citizens might lose faith in the so called e-Govt. I would humbly request the PS, Dr Bitange and the ICT Board to intervene and find out what transpired at the KNEC system.
For the parents who had 2009 candidates, I am concerned with the general national perfomance taking into account that subjects such as SST where candidates usually score high marks recorded poor performance, something is not right somewhere.
WISHING YOU A HAPPY 2010
Akich Kwach
----- Original Message ----- From: "mureithi" <mureithi@summitstrategies.co.ke> To: <kwach@archway-productions.com> Cc: <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 6:43 PM Subject: Re: [kictanet] KNEC giving candidates, parents a raw deal
> Thanks barrack > For the candidate and their family they interacted with the ict system > and the interface was the sms and the web. We should not hide behind > huge traffic because the phenomena and the time is known and the > implications. > Another terrible failure is that i and many thousands kenyans paid > upfront to the ict system for a service that was not delivered > > > ____________ > Muriuki Mureithi > Summit Strategies Ltd sent from cellphone > > ________________ Reply Header ________________ > Subject: Re: [kictanet] KNEC giving candidates, parents a raw deal > Author: Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack@gmail.com> > Date: 29th December 2009 12:51 > > MM, > > I guess it's a bit premature to blame the System, the problem stems > from > how > the whole announcement was managed, it was improper for the Ministers > handlers to say the results would be available on the site immediately > after > the speech, with the anxiety that had been going on i'm sure even the > best > servers might not have handled the hits, no wonder the systems were > unable > to cope, however this serves as a lesson to KNEC, i am sure they will > do > better in 2010. > > Happy New Year ! > > On 12/29/09, mureithi <mureithi@summitstrategies.co.ke> wrote: >> >> Zachary >> This was the great opportunity for the ict system to prove its value >> to >> our >> society. It failed miserably to just serve less than 1 percent of the >> population and had to walk to schools. Zain however stood tall and >> 2228 >> worked. >> ____________ >> Muriuki Mureithi >> Summit Strategies Ltd sent from cellphone >> >> ________________ Reply Header ________________ >> Subject: [kictanet] KNEC giving candidates, parents a raw deal >> Author: Zachary Ochieng <zzachmbir@yahoo.com> >> Date: 29th December 2009 09:59 >> >> >> Despite the digitisation of exam results by the Kenya National >> Examinations Council (KNEC) and the Ministry of Education, the >> platform >> doesn't seem to be working. My daughter is one of the candidates who >> sat >> KCPE in November 2009. But more than two hours after the release of >> the >> results by Education minister Sam Ongeri, the KNEC website from where >> the >> candidates are supposed to check their results remains down. Worse >> still, >> the 2228 no. to which candidates should text their index numbers to >> get >> results is also not working but continues to consume airtime to the >> tune of >> Ksh 20 per SMS. If this is not a rip off, then I don't know the >> definition, >> coming as it does at a time when the ministry is reeling from a theft >> scandal. >> >> One wonders what else the ministry could be hiding. While announcing >> the >> top candidates, Ongeri never mentioned the names of their schools. But >> it is >> anyone's guess that majority of them are from private schools. Rather >> than >> bash the media as he did during the release of the results, Ongeri >> should >> tell us what is bedevilling FPE. >> >> Can someone please help? MY daughter has refused to take lunch until >> she >> gets her results. >> >> >> >> --- Be the change you want to see in the world. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> kictanet mailing list >> kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke >> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet >> >> This message was sent to: mureithi@summitstrategies.co.ke >> Unsubscribe or change your options at >>
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-- Solomon Mbũrũ Kamau P.O. Box 19343 - 00202 Nairobi Cell: (+254-0) 735 431041 Man is a gregarious animal and enjoys agreement as cows will graze all the same way to the side of a hill! AND It is better to die in dignity than in the ignomity of ambiguous generosity! http://dawn-in-kenya.blogspot.com http://smiley2.wordpress.com http://mburu.sikika.co.ke