KANYADUDI: School riots are symptomatic of historical inequalities

Currently, the Kenya Kwanza government is implementing the CBE system that was initiated by the Jubilee administration. The system is technology-oriented and promotes, as well as relies on the IT skills of learners.

It is generally accepted that the transition was rushed and not well planned by the Ministry of education then under the leadership of Fred Matiang’i. The teachers were not retooled and reoriented.

There was no concomitant investment in the necessary infrastructure to deliver the curriculum. More painful is inadequate or total absence of relevant instruction materials for use by teachers and learners.

Therefore, access to quality education under this system is already compromised as before and remains the biggest challenge. If not addressed effectively, the instability in the education sector as witnessed by violent protests by students will continue.

The current wave of unrest in schools must push the country to reevaluate the system and establish a policy for posterity instead of short-term solutions and interests.

President William Ruto has made some innovative decisions and taken bold steps in addressing national challenges. The education system requires such innovation and boldness.

The new policy should out of necessity offer a radical shift rather than token revisionism. While there is nothing wrong in borrowing from best practices, it must be homegrown and provide long-term tangible solutions.

Otherwise, the inequalities will continue to fuel resentment and reactionary responses. The inequalities and disparities have a historical grounding through official policy orientation.

Formal education as is known today was introduced into the country by the European missionaries in the late 19^th century. While at first within the Rabai Mission community it was limited to evangelisation through Bible study, it was a preparatory journey for the project of colonisation.

The Western powers had sat among themselves to partition Africa into their respective spheres of influence. The Berlin conference under the stewardship of Otto von Bismarck, was convened to rationalise the distribution of the vast wealth in the continent.

The invitations were carefully and strategically made to make the process peaceful. The Scramble for Africa had ostensibly been exciting and had the high potential of turning into a bloody large-scale war.

It was held from November 15, 1884, to February 26, 1885 and the summit brought together 14 Western powers and the United States to regulate European colonisation and trade in Africa, but pointedly without any African representation.

Therefore, the attendant education system provided to the natives was modelled on what existed in the metropoles but modified to serve the expedient interests of the white settlers.

The colonial system of education in Kenya in the period of 1895–1963 was a racially segregated structure designed to serve British interests.

It provided well-funded, academic education to Europeans and Asians, while limiting Africans to vocational and agricultural training intended to produce a subservient labour force for the colonial economy.

The Fraser Commission of 1908 formally recommended the segregation of the education system along racial lines. The education system was divided into three distinct tiers. European children received high-quality, academically-oriented schooling aimed at preparing them for leadership roles.

Asian (Indian) children received technical and commercial training to fit into the middle-tier of the economic hierarchy. African education was deliberately limited to basic literacy (the ‘3Rs’ of reading, writing and arithmetic) and practical manual skills such as carpentry, masonry and basic agriculture.

The provision of these instructions were led by the church leaders in the hierarchy of the white missionary assisted by subordinate African catechist.

This was later formalised by the Phelps-Stokes Commission of 1924 that reinforced the push for vocational and industrial education for Africans, aligning with colonial economic demands.

The colonial education system thus had exploitative intent. The colonial administration actively restricted Africans from pursuing higher education or leadership roles, fearing that educated Africans would threaten white settler dominance.

This planted the early seeds of revolt to the education system in Kenya. Frustrated by the poor quality of mission education and restricted access, African communities and independent churches started their own independent schools.

These provided unhindered academic and cultural education, which later formed a vital base for political activism. Majority if not all of these independent schools were within the white highlands.

The level of segregation and intensity of colonial control in central Kenya was higher than in the rest of the country. It is therefore not coincidental that the resistance to colonial administration and agitation for independence in the region took to guerrilla tactics and virulent warfare.

The quest for freedom in the region was more exclusive and disruptively focused than cooperative and inclusive. The leaders who were largely products of the independent schools were inward looking and least concerned about the rest of the colony.

When independence was attained, these three systems were fused into one national system. However, the cultural differences remained distinct in the manner of traditions and practices in these schools.

The new nation found itself with a stratified system that promoted segregation by design in heritage and default in practice. There existed three strands of schools in the country.

The government schools which still practised covert racial exclusion, mission schools which overtly practised faith segregation and harambee schools which had emerged from the independent and community sponsored schools.

For boys, Nairobi and Lenana schools were generally reserved for the sons of white settlers who remained behind to continue with their businesses under the new political leadership.

Others had been requested to support the new government administrative structures since there not enough qualified local Africans to take up the roles.

Jamhuri High continued to be dominated by the Asian community. Nairobi School was originally founded in 1929 as the Prince of Wales School. It was renamed to its current name shortly after Kenya's independence. 

Lenana School was established in 1949 as the Duke of York School. It was renamed to its current name in 1969 to honour the Maasai Paramount Chief, Laibon Lenana.

On the other hand, Jamhuri High School was founded in 1906 as the Railway Educational Centre. It was later renamed the Government Indian School and the Duke of Gloucester School, before adopting Jamhuri (Swahili for republic) after independence in 1963. For girls, Kenya High fit the purpose.

The communities served by these schools were residents of Nairobi and the major administrative and commercial towns of the country.

The other big government schools became designated and given provincial status. These institutions had been set up by the colonial administration in response to the necessities that arose from the World Wars I and II. They were also non-denominational and operated independently of any religious organisation, doctrine, or faith.

They promoted secular education and run curriculum that focused strictly on academics, science and critical thinking. These schools did not require religious affiliations for admission, staffing, or daily operations, which made them inclusive for students from all belief backgrounds.

They were known as government African schools and were established in each provincial region except ironically in the Northern Frontier District.  Kapsabet School was established in 1908 as a primary school. It was later transformed and expanded as the government African school in 1925.

Nakuru School was founded in 1927. Kakamega School was established in 1932 as government African school Kakamega same year as Shimo la Tewa, while Kisii School begun operations in 1934 as government African school soon after Kagumo High School which was established in 1933.  

Kangaru School opened in 1947. These institutions were not resourced at the same level with their counterparts in Nairobi. Consequently, they could not compete favourably in the labor market.

The boys who enjoyed better facilities were those under missionary-sponsored schools. However, they faced discrimination in admission on the basis of faith except for Alliance High School.

It is instructive to note that the colonial government and the missionaries had no school dedicated to African girls until 1947. Alliance Girls High School originally called African Girls High School was founded in 1948 by the Alliance of Protestant Missions. It was for the first time in Kenya's colonial history, that African girls were admitted to a formal secondary.

This demonstrates that the discrimination was not only racial but also gender-based. Maseno, Alliance and Mang’u schools pioneered this cluster. The stature and status of mission schools depended entirely on the denomination sponsor.

So much so that even within the Catholic Church, the resource outlay of any of their school reflected the wealth of the sponsoring order.

The sponsorship would largely influence the support given to students in their respective career placement and progression within the labour market. This has further entrenched inequalities within the education system. Through commissions, the successive governments have not halted this injustice.

The education policies after independence were guided by a reactionary philosophy rather than long-term interests. The 7-4-2-3 system sought to provide skilled labour rapidly to address the increasing demands of national development.

It also intended to foster national unity and patriotism by ensuring that students had opportunities to attend any schools of their choices across the country. The 8-4-4 continued in the same trajectory albeit with the infusion of modest practical skills in the body curriculum.

The categorisation that created national schools from the existing government and mission schools inadvertently reinforced the social stratification and national inequalities.

By default, and out of historical circumstances, majority of these elite schools were concentrated around the Mt Kenya and Rift Valley regions. The government funding policy favoured heavy investment in the professional human resource and infrastructural capacity of these institutions.

Conversely, the harambee and district schools which had majority of students relied almost entirely on communities to finance development and staffing. The ensuing tribal-based politics promoted policies of exclusion and discrimination in government resource allocation.

When the government under Narc introduced the free primary education, the communities with well-developed schools, witnessed higher transition rates than the rest of the country.

The inequalities and injustices continued to grow and the gaps in the social strata widened further. The disparities became fodder for inflammatory politics and fuelled resentment to the institutions by the students.