KENYA EDUCATION COMMISSION REPORT



KENYA EDUCATION COMMISSION REPORT.

Nairobi, 12th December 1964

Terms of Reference 1

The Members of the Kenya Education Commission 2

Letter from the Chairman of the Kenya Education Commission to the Minister for Education dated 22nd October, 1964. 3

Letter from the Minister for Education to the Chairman of the Kenya Education Commission dated 23rd October, 1964. 4

PREFACE 5

Summary of Recommendations 7

Chapter II: General Problems Affecting Education 7

Chapter III — Primary Education 9

Chapter IV — Secondary Education 12

Chapter V — Adult, Technical and Commercial Education 15

Chapter Vi — Teachers 18

Chapter VII — Some General Questions 21

Chapter VIII — The Primary School Leaver 22

Chapter 1 - The Purposes of Education in Kenya 23

Terms of Reference

To survey the existing educational resources of Kenya and to advise the Government of Kenya in the formulation and implementation of national policies for education which:

a) appropriately express the aspirations and cultural values of an independent African country;

b) take account of the need for trained manpower for economic development and far other activities in the life of the nation;

c) take advantage of the initiative and service of Regional and local authorities and voluntary bodies;

d) contribute to the unity of Kenya;

e) respect the educational needs and capacities of children;

f) have due regard for the resources, both in money and in personnel, that are likely to become available for educational services; and

g) provide for the principal educational requirements of adults; and to report to the Minister for Education.

The Members of the Kenya Education Commission

Professor Simeon H. Ominde. M.A.. Ph.D., D.p.Ed., Chapman

Hon. Jeremiah Nyagah, Dip.Ed., M.P.

Hon. A. J. Pandya, Barrister-at-Law, M.P.

Hon. Taita Towett. B.A., M.P.

Hon. J, K. Ndile, M.A., M.P.

Mrs. Ruth Habwe

Mr. J. B. Wambugu, Dip.Ed.

Mr. J. D. Ochieng', B.A., Dip.Ed.

Mr. Thomas G. Lung'aho

Mr. Paul Fordham, B.A.

Dr. Mohamed Hyder, B.Sc., Ph.D.. Dip.Ed.

Alderman Israel Somen, M.B.E.

Mr. David N. Michuki {Co-opted}

Mr. C. P. Vivian, B.Sc. (Eng.), M.I.C.E. (.Co-opted)

Secretariat

Mr. J. Roger Carter. M.A.

Mr. J. G. Kiti, Dip.Ed.

Mrs. M. P. D'Souza

Consultant

Mr. A. D. Collop. H.M.I.. B.Sc. (Eng.), M.I.E.E.

Mr. V. L. Griffiths, O.B.E.. M.A.

Professor Arthur Lewis. M.A., Ed.D.

Steering Committee

Professor S. H. Ominde (Chairman)

Hon. Taita Towett. M.P.

Dr. Mohamed Hyder

Mr. J. D. Ochieng'

Primary Panel

Mr. J. B. Wambugu (Chairman)

Mrs. Ruth Habwe

Mr. D. N. Michuki

Secondary Panel

Dr. Mohamed Hyder (Chairman)

Hon. A. J. Pandya, M.P.

Mr. J. D. Ochieng'

Technical and Adult Panel

Mr. T. G. Lung'aho (Chairman)

Mr. Paul Fordham

Hon. Taita Towett, M.P.

Mr. C. P. Vivian

Teachers Panel

hon. Jeremiah Nyagah, M.P. (Chairman)

Alderman I. Somen

Hon. J. K. Ndile, M.P.

Letter from the Chairman of the Kenya Education Commission to the Minister for Education dated 22nd October, 1964.

My dear Minister,

On 19th December, 1963, you invited me to be Chairman of a Commission of Enquiry into education in Kenya. The Commission began work on 15th February, 1964, and undertook an exhaustive enquiry into all aspects of education as requested in their terms of reference. I have pleasure in submitting to you the first part of the Commission's findings and recommendations which, as you see, has the unanimous agreement of all members of the Commission.

This Report deals with questions of policy and does not include any quantitative recommendations or plan of priorities. We propose to put forward our proposals on these matters in a second Report, which we hope to complete early in 1965. We were unable to include quantitative proposals in the present document owing to the absence of information about present and future manpower requirements in Kenya, but we expect to have before us the results of a manpower survey, which is now being conducted under the auspices of the Director of Planning, when we resume our enquiry.

In the course of our work, we have been acutely conscious of the need for a searching reappraisal of the purposes and organization of our educational system in the new circumstances that have followed Independence. In order to ascertain as accurately as possible the views of the people of Kenya, we made special efforts to get into touch with people of all kinds in all parts of the country and we took evidence in English and Kiswahili. The high degree of interest in our enquiry is shown by the very large number of memoranda that have been sent to us and the numerous people and organizations that gave evidence before us in person. We are therefore satisfied that the main policies set out in our Report will command the agreement and support of the majority of the people of Kenya.

This is not the last word to be said about education in Kenya. Conditions are changing rapidly and it is essential that our educational system should be responsive to such changes. We have, therefore, ventured to include among our recommendations suggestions for a small standing committee to advise from time to time on the modifications that will become necessary.

Yours sincerely,

(Signed) S. H. Ominde,

Chairman.

Letter from the Minister for Education to the Chairman of the Kenya Education Commission dated 23rd October, 1964.

My dear Professor Ominde,

Thank you for your letter of 22nd October, 1964, accompanying the first part of the Report of the Kenya Education Commission. I note that you will be submitting to me your quantitative recommendations in a second Part of the Report early in 1965.

The Commission have tackled a subject of considerable complexity and have made detailed recommendations, which will be studied by the Government with care. They will be particularly conscious of the steps taken by the Commission to canvass the views of the public in a matter that so closely affects the welfare and progress of Kenya.

The people and Government of Kenya are greatly in the Commission's debt for the valuable work that they have undertaken with such skill and devotion.

Yours sincerely,

(Signed) J. D. Otiende,

Minister for Education.

PREFACE

This Report is Part I of a comprehensive review of education in Kenya. It deals with numerous policy issues that confront the Government of Kenya and others concerned with education at the present time and with various important educational problems. Owing to the absence of vital statistical information, particularly of a manpower survey, it was not possible to incorporate into our report a quantitative assessment of our findings and a clear statement of priorities. Fortunately, a manpower survey is now being carried out and we hope, therefore, to be in a position to issue our quantitative findings as Part II of our report early in 1965.

Although our terms of reference have not explicitly precluded us from considering university education, we have inferred that it was not the Government's intention that we should add to our labours so large and complex a task as the study of the role in Kenya of the University of East Africa. We have, therefore, limited our references to university education to those subjects which were closely connected with our other recommendations.

In as much as it has consisted of Kenya citizens and, for the most part, of laymen in the educational field, we believe that the Commission has broken new ground. It has been possible on this account for our review of education to take full cognizance of the national and social objectives of educational policy. At the same time, we have given close attention to the improvement of the educational efficiency of our schools, believing that this is vital for the welfare and development of Kenya. In this task, we have had the great advantage of being able to consult three distinguished educational experts during our August meetings.

One of our consultants, Mr. Griffiths, of Oxford University, has had many years of practical educational experience in India and the Sudan and has visited Kenya previously on various occasions. He served on a fact-finding mission to study Muslim Education in East Africa in 1958 and attended the subsequent conference on this subject held in Dar es Salaam. In 1962, Mr. Griffiths visited Kenya on behalf of KANU and put forward some suggestions with regard to the future educational policy of an African Government. Our second adviser, Professor Arthur Lewis of Teacher's College, Columbia University, U.S.A., has been for some time the executive officer responsible for the Teachers for East Africa scheme at Makerere College. In this capacity, he has added to his already wide experience of educational questions a detailed acquaintance with some of the problems of secondary education and the training of teachers in the East African countries. Finally, we have had the advice of Mr. Collop, one of Her Majesty's Inspectors at the Ministry of Education in England. Mr. Collop is a staff inspector for technical education. He has a very wide knowledge of technical education, not only in Britain, but also in a number of European countries. Owing to the critical nature of this subject for Kenya, Mr. Collop was enabled to spend some weeks earlier in the year studying the present provision for technical and commercial education in conjunction with the technical and adult panel of the Commission.

We wish to say that our advisers gave us most valuable help by checking our proposals against their experience and by bringing to our attention educational factors that we might otherwise have missed. We are very grateful for their help and for being able to share in the benefits of their wisdom and experience. Nevertheless, as our advisers agreed from the start, the question how far we might think it right to accept their advice was for us to decide and we alone take the responsibility for the recommendations in this report.

The list of those who submitted written evidence to the Commission is reproduced in Appendix 6, and of those who gave oral evidence in Appendix 7. It will be seen that the Commission's net was flung widely and that we sought, and obtained, a great deal of information about the thinking of people in all parts of the country on educational problems. Sometimes, we looked even further afield, consulting documents and opinions from foreign countries, particularly those that were engaged in the battle of progress at different stages. For instance, we had the benefit of personal consultations with members of visiting missions from the People's Republic of China and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during their visits to Nairobi.

We wish to express our thanks to all those who, often at much cost and inconvenience to themselves, helped us to gain an insight into the problems of education in Kenya. We hope that they will feel that they have had a hand in our report, as they deserve to feel. We are much indebted to the many officers of Central, Regional and local government, who helped us with information and advice or supplied us with memoranda. Finally, we thank the Governments of the United Kingdom and the United States of America for their generosity in giving us the services of our consultants; and the Government of Kenya for all the facilities that they unhesitatingly placed at our disposal.

We hope that this report will be found helpful in the formulation of official educational policy at a time when almost all policies must come under searching reconsideration. We also hope that much of what we have said will be helpful to teachers and others who are directly involved in the business of education and that the Report will be widely and carefully studied. Much of our purpose has been to change the atmosphere of education and to endow it with a new relevance. If this hope is fulfilled it will be a sign that our voice has been heard, not only by the Government, but also by the teaching profession and the people of Kenya. For education, of all our national activities, makes its claims upon us all.

However, time moves fast in Kenya and we are well aware that our most discerning estimates of the future may well be found wanting as time goes on. It was for that reason that we regarded our recommendations as a point of departure for future development rather than as a fixed programme for the next generation. No comment of ours do we regard as more important than the observation that our educational system must at all times accurately reflect the actual needs of Kenya. Consequently we have made recommendations (in paragraph 485) for the continuing review over the years of all that we have written here. This is not, therefore, a ten-year plan, or a 25-year plan, but a beginning of continuous planning of education in Kenya, and we hope that this will become our habitual national attitude towards this vital service.

Summary of Recommendations

Recommendations on General Problems Affecting Education

1. As the planning authority, the Government must be in a position to determine the nature, extent and location of educational development and to enforce such decisions.

2. The Government should make a reality of its partnership with Regional and local authorities in the planning and administration of education.

3. Educational policy should be consciously directed towards training in national unity.

4. We advocate uniform fees in all secondary schools as a long-term objective.

5. High non-teaching staff costs should be examined for possible economies.

6. A ‘unified' diet in all secondary schools is essential for integration and progress towards such an objective should be made by steps. Meanwhile, careful economy consistent with dietary adequacy should be practised in the high-cost schools.

7. Diets in former African secondary schools are inadequate and should be improved forthwith.

8. School uniforms should be regarded everywhere as the responsibility of parents. Requirements should be kept to a minimum and administered flexibly to avoid hardship.

9. In order to make proper cost comparisons possible, all secondary schools should be maintained under a single set of grant rules. Essential standards in high-cost schools should be maintained by means of a compensation grant.

10. Experienced Boards of Governors should be allowed a maximum of 10% virement between heads in the estimates other than staff salaries without reference to the grant-aiding authority.

11. Integration in schools should extend to staffs and Boards of Governors.

12. A purely secular system of schools, at the present time, would be unacceptable and impracticable in Kenya.

13. Where parents in general desire that a school should be under a particular religious influence, this wish should be respected. This religious 'sponsorship' by a church should be exercised by a responsible central organisation of the church. We recommend the formation of a Muslim body for such a purpose, comparable to existing Christian bodies.

14. It should be the duty of the local authority to decide whether and how sponsorship should be provided for a primary school. Mixed sponsorship should be encouraged where practicable. Where sponsorship is inappropriate, the local authority should meet reasonable demands for religious instruction through the regular staff of the school and not by according rights of entry to unqualified persons. Rights of parents not wishing religious instruction for their children must be scrupulously respected.

15. Introductory study of various religious systems should be considered in due course at the secondary stage.

16. We welcome the proposed 'agreed syllabus’ of religious instruction for protestant schools and suggest eventual consideration of a single Christian syllabus. We do not consider a single syllabus of 'ethics' practicable.

17. Religious instruction should be handled as an academic subject on educational lines,

dissociated from the sectarian objectives of any church.

18. The new united training college in the Coast Region should specialise, among other things, in the educational problems of Muslim communities.

19. We hope that a body of leading Muslims could be found to 'sponsor' schools in Muslim areas and work with the new training college in promoting the preparation of an agreed syllabus' of Muslim religious instruction

20. The intervention of madrassas in secular education should be controlled under the terms of section 56 of the Education Act, with a view to their eventual exclusion from participation in secular education.

21. We advocate the formation of a permanent curriculum study unit, associated with the Special Centre, to advise the Chief Education Officer, among other things, on the contribution of the curriculum to national unity.

22. The contribution of ceremonial in school life to the promotion of national feeling should be recognised.

23. Art, crafts, music and dancing can make a real contribution to the sense of nationhood.

24. Teachers must be convinced exponents of national unity. Training must seize every opportunity to foster this outlook.

25. The national instinct of self-help is profoundly important to Kenya education and should be encouraged and directed into projects within the capacity of communities.

26. To facilitate change and to create public understanding of policies, a forward-looking public relations policy should be the responsibility of an information officer who should work in liaison with a senior officer of the Ministry of Education.

Recommendations on Primary Education

27. The p imary school provides training in basic skills and the rudiments of citizenship. As it is essential that it should fulfil this role more effectively, we do not recommend the inclusion of a specifically vocational element in the primary course.

28. We lay special emphasis on science education and training in the manipulative skills in the primary school.

29. More attention should be given to social training in the primary school.

30. All maintained primary schools should be managed by local authorities, subject to any duties of 'sponsorship' to be exercised by churches at the request of the parents.

31. Proper supervision of primary schools is essential and we recommend teams of four

supervisors for every hundred schools as a guide.

32. Supervisors should be carefully selected, trained and relieved of administrative duties as much as possible. They should provide one source of recruitment to posts in the Ministry's inspectorate, which should therefore be regarded and paid as promotion posts.

33. Headmasters have a vital supervisory role and should be trained for the purpose.

34. Few reforms are more important to Kenya education than raising standards in primary

schools, about which we are deeply disturbed.

35. The employment of untrained teachers without a K.P.E. Certificate should henceforth be forbidden: and the numbers of other untrained teachers should be reduced.

36. The post of headmaster in a two-stream primary school should be made supernumerary as soon as possible.

37. In principle, local authorities should be responsible for primary school buildings and teachers' houses, making full use of self-help and aiming at better constructional standards.

38. The Inspectorate and the Ministry of Works should consider making designs for modern school furniture suitable for group work, able to be made cheaply by a local fundi.

39. Overseas aid should be sought for an initial stocking of primary schools with modern

school books and science equipment.

40. A nation-wide effort should be made by social workers, school committees and voluntary organisations to bring home to parents the nutritional needs of children. Pilot experiments in school feeding by voluntary bodies should be encouraged.

41. The primary school curriculum should be considered as a whole, to ascertain whether its total impact is in line with contemporary needs and modern educational practice.

42. Positive measures should be taken by education authorities and teachers' leaders to enlist the support of teachers for needed changes in the curriculum.

43. Further revision of the history syllabus is needed, but much of this must await the publication of new texts by African authors.

44. A revision of the geography syllabus is needed to increase concentration on Kenya and Africa.

45. Agriculture should cease to be a separate subject in the primary school and should become an ingredient in a revised general science syllabus.

46. Careful attention must be given to art and crafts for training in muscular control and

co-ordination.

47. Music should be encouraged as opportunity offers as a source of pleasure and to increase a sense of a shared cultural heritage as an ingredient of nationhood.

48. English should become the universal medium of instruction from Primary I, but Kiswahili should become a compulsory subject from Primary I wherever possible. Teachers of Kiswahili should be given further training in a crash programme during school holidays.

49. The issue of KPE certificates to successful pupils should be replaced by the issue of school leaving certificates to all pupils. Cramming for KPE should be discouraged. Alternative selection procedures should be the subject of research.

50. Education must become more child-centred. Training colleges should include a child study expert on the staff. Systematic study of child growth and development should be undertaken by the educational research body for Kenya.

51. The use of radio as a teaching aid should be extended and should be included in the syllabuses of training colleges.

52. Greater understanding between parents and teachers should be fostered by means of Parents and Teachers Associations or in other ways.

53. We recommend six as the age of entry to primary schools.

54. We are opposed to separate primary schools for girls except in areas of sparse population.

55. Uniform fees in any area should be the goal for all types of primary schools.

Recommendation on Secondary Education

56. The concept of 'secondary education' should be broadened to include practical training and to provide outlets into the production side of industry and agriculture. It must also be used as a training of the power of judgment, logical thinking and the clear expression of ideas.

57. The basic assumption is that most new secondary schools must be day schools, though some boarding facilities may have to be provided for a time. Where shortage of capital precludes this, at least an inexpensive cafeteria must be provided in all 'day' secondary schools.

58. We are in qualified agreement with single-sex boarding schools but recommend experiments in co-educational boarding schools.

59. We advocate a minimum of four streams in boarding secondary schools and three in day schools, but larger schools should be considered in favourable circumstances.

60. The opening of new schools or streams beyond the limits of Government planning must be forbidden.

61. The distribution of investment capital for school building must aim at equalising educational opportunity and helping under-developed areas to catch up with other areas.

62. Recently opened unaided schools should be confined at present to Forms I and II and further unaided schools forbidden unless promoters can prove that teachers will be found outside existing or potential sources of public school teachers. Self-help should be canalised into projects within the Development Plan and the capacity of communities.

63. The technical and trade schools should be developed to become secondary trade schools, to provide a basic education for craftsmen and technicians. Each should specialise in a particular industrial or commercial objective and we suggest that a school or schools specialising in agriculture should be considered.

64. We suggest that not less than 20% of the intake of all boarding secondary schools should be from other Regions.

65. We approve of the new plans for secondary selection but we suggest that a larger percentage of candidates should be considered for secondary entry.

66. We recommend that an expert should be appointed to investigate improved selection procedures.

67. Although age of admission affects performance in secondary schools, we consider a limit of 14 unjustifiable in present circumstances and suggest a flexible limit of 15-½, with possibly a higher working maximum for girls.

68. We urge the Government to consider the compulsory registration of births.

69. We recommend the establishment of Intermediate Colleges for sixth form and other parallel work and suggest that the Highlands School, Eldoret, might become the first Intermediate College. Existing sixth forms should be enlarged to a minimum of 60 per year. Fees at this level should be scaled down and ultimately abolished.

70. So long as expatriate teachers are needed, they should be persons sympathetic with the national aspirations of Kenya and a readiness to learn Kiswahili would be an advantage.

71. In principle, staff should be appointed by Boards of Governors with the advice of the head and direct recruitment by Boards should be encouraged. In practice, block recruitment schemes will often oblige Boards to delegate responsibility to Governments but Kenya cultural attaches should be associated with selection for such schemes where possible and fuller information about the needs of schools and the teachers available should be provided.

72. Boards of Governors must control the selection of mission teachers, who must be appointed to the service of Boards under proper secondment agreements.

73. Expatriates should be offered two, three or four year contracts and contracts should be renewable a year before termination. Home leave between contracts should be confined to school holidays.

74. A workshop or craftroom is a. necessary part of the equipment of any secondary school and teachers of art or crafts must enjoy a status equal to other members of staff.

75. History books by African authors are needed and positive encouragement and, if necessary, financial help should be given. A paper on African history at Higher Certificate level is needed.

76. Kiswahili should be a compulsory subject in secondary schools. French is an important option and other languages, such as German and Russian, should be offered where facilities are available. We suggest that Latin at Ordinary level is best taken in the sixth form in cases where the need is clear.

77. We urge a greater attention to economics in geography and other relevant subjects and experiments at H.S.C. level in economics as a separate subject.

78. Basic sciences and mathematics are normally the best preparation for agricultural training, but we hope that more secondary schools will include agricultural science, or agricultural principles and practice, in the curriculum

79. A more positive attitude to agriculture must be fostered generally among secondary school staff. Young Farmers' Clubs should be encouraged.

80. We advocate discontinuation of CSC and HSC and the establishment of GCE at Lower Ordinary, Ordinary and Advanced levels.

81. We recommend the institution of secondary school records for employment purposes

and for use in selection for higher education.

82. We are in favour of an East African Examinations Board established by the Central Legislative Assembly when problems of cost and personnel can be overcome.

83. The school year is of concern to all East African Governments and the University, but we suggest that it should continue to coincide with the calendar year, that the long vacation should be at the turn of the year and that school examinations should be in September.

84. We support the entrustment of secondary schools to Boards of Governors and advise the Government to acquire suitable powers of control over the activities of Boards.

85. Unaided schools should be controlled and the law strengthened and simplified for this purpose. The State should prevent the collection of large profits from unaided schools and correspondence colleges run on a business basis. Positive encouragement of high standards should be given by a system of 'recognition as efficient' and the staff at an 'efficient' school should be eligible for free government pension.

Recommendation on Adult, Technical and Commercial Education

86. We support the Government's decision to establish a Board of Adult Education, but recommend the extension of its scope to include all kinds of technical and commercial education. The secretariat should be provided by the Ministry of Education.

87. Adult education and Community Development ought again to become a responsibility of the Ministry of Education.

88. The Ministry's head of adult, technical and commercial education ought to be an officer of Assistant Chief Education Officer status, exercising a vital function with respect to economic development. An energetic officer with special creative qualities will be needed.

89. Specialised training institutions should not take on responsibilities for technical and commercial education which can be provided best in the regular institutions for this purpose. To do so may cause costly overlapping involving higher maintenance costs and wasteful use of manpower.

90. To secure the most economical and beneficial use of resources, there should be close and continual contact between the Ministry of Education on the one hand and industry, or the Director of Personnel, on the other, in which the Ministry should have a responsibility of initiative.

91. It will be economical to make certain forms of provision, where the demand for skills is limited and the cost of education high, on an Inter-territorial basis.

92. We emphasize the urgent need to build the proposed extensions of the Polytechnic, to earmark sufficient adjacent land and to provide residential accommodation for women students.

93. Preliminary courses should be removed to a technical college for Nairobi and the Polytechnic confined to work above CSC level, including senior technician courses. The Polytechnic should serve as the Intermediate College for entry to the Engineering Department of the University.

94. We suggest the University might consider giving explicit recognition to City and Guilds Ordinary Certificates or Diplomas for entry to the Engineering Department and that, conversely, the Polytechnic should consider whether University students who do not make the grade after the first year of an engineering course could be admitted to senior technician courses at the Polytechnic.

95. It will be necessary to equate fees for Advanced level courses at the Polytechnic with those in other Intermediate Colleges, and for senior technician courses with those obtaining in the University.

96. MIOME should become the technical college for the Coast Region and Eastern Kenya, courses being rationalised with those at the Polytechnic, where all advanced work would be offered. The secondary technical school should be removed elsewhere and the trade school at Kwale closed and reopened at MIOME as a four-year course. GCE and professional courses now under the University Extra-mural Department should be trans- ferred to MIOME.

97. Technical education in Kenya should be planned as a whole on the basis of ascertained demand for manpower and in conjunction with Uganda and Tanzania.

98. We suggest that an East African Examinations Board should assume responsibility subject by subject for technical and commercial examinations after the Board has become fully established for school examinations.

99. We suggest that consideration should be given to training rural social workers in future in the same institution as Community Development Officers.

100. Pending the provision of evening institutes in various centres, part-time courses should be provided at secondary schools in various subjects, especially science.

101. Adult education has an important part to play in building up the national life.

102. Community Development is a vital educational agency at village level, supporting and canalising the instinct of self-help and enabling Specialist Departments to give expert guidance. The relationship with the Specialist Departments should be clearly understood on both sides.

103. We emphasise the importance of the selection and training of Community Development Officers.

104. Though we cannot be dogmatic, we think that Kiswahili should be the main vehicle for literacy work, and we urge a greater production of Kiswahili texts relevant to community work of various kinds.

105. We agree that, wherever possible, District Training Centres should share the same premises as Farmers' Training Centres. We emphasise the key role of the Warden of a District Training Centre.

106. We attach importance to radio as a medium for adult education and its co-ordination with other agencies. We think that, owing to the high production costs of educational television, available resources should be mainly concentrated on sound radio for the time being.

107. The use of radio and television for scientific and technical education should be investigated and the possibility of central viewing stations should be considered.

108. Correspondence education should be encouraged and the Ministry of Education should insist on adequate basic standards and encourage higher standards by a system of 'recognition as efficient'. Courses supported by radio broadcasts deserve special consideration.

109. We recommend to the University the idea of degrees taken by part-time study supplemented by periods of College residence.

110. We welcome the establishment of a Kenya Library Service and suggest that training-college libraries and the specialist libraries of technical colleges and large firms should join the scheme.

111. Independent technical and commercial colleges should be carefully controlled and high standards encouraged by a system of 'recognition as efficient'.

Recommendations on Teachers

112. Conditions of service for teachers that appear reasonable to both the profession and the public are a basic element in teacher morale and consideration must be given to a proper relation with other forms of employment in relevant cases.

113. The KNUT should be associated with discussion of broad educational issues at head-quarters level.

114. Vacation courses to help teachers to upgrade themselves by their own efforts should be provided.

115. A vigorous campaign, especially at the higher levels, should be aimed at persuading school and University leavers to enter teaching.

116. Training colleges should create conditions favouring the growth of maturity and responsibility.

117. The personal welfare of teachers should be considered by supervisors, school committees and sponsors.

118. We draw attention to the serious consequences of the closure of schools because of tax deficiencies, or for any other reason.

119. Certain non-teaching staff appointments are essential to relieve teachers of unwarranted burdens and thus increase the effective supply of teachers.

120. Non-graduate teachers should be classified without differentiation between teaching levels.

121. We recommend training colleges of minimum size 250 (single-sex) or 300 (mixed) but prefer larger colleges where conditions allow.

122. We advocate mixed training colleges.

123. Systematic planning of training college premises is essential. They should include study bedrooms, and good library facilities. Teaching methods should be reconsidered in

view of their effect on planning.

124. Where there are college farms, they should be run as separate enterprises on a commercial basis.

125. In general we support the view that demonstration teaching should be in local schools.

126. Every training college should possess a simple laboratory.

127. We believe that training colleges are best managed by Boards of Governors.

128. Staffing of training colleges should be restored to two for every 25 students, including a librarian.

129. We agree with the recommendations of the Teachers Salaries Commission on responsibility allowances for training college staff and that all staff vacancies should be advertised. Every training college should employ a specialist in child growth and development.

130. The lowest acceptable level of qualification for a training college tutor is S. 1.

131. Compulsory student labour in training colleges should be abolished.

132. Personal allowances for students, to cover equipment and incidental expenses, provide an adult approach to personal responsibilities.

133. Participation by students in the life of a college, through an elected students' council and in other ways, is an important training for future responsibilities.

134. Training colleges are the key to reforms in the primary school. This emphasises the serious responsibilities of Boards of Governors in selecting college staff and in reconsidering the whole training process and its setting.

135. The crafts tutor should be an important member of the staff able to advise colleagues on the practical aspects of activities.

136. Colleges should give students some insight into the problems of adult education.

137. Facilities for remedial reading should be provided in every training college.

138. We recommend experimentation in various patterns of teaching practice and suggest in particular a final period of six weeks in the fifth term.

139. We suggest experiments in the continuous assessment of students in training.

140. Pupil teachers should be given a short course before they begin to teach.

141. Rather than extend the P3 course to three years, recruitment for training should increasingly take place at Form II.

142. Alternative training procedures, such as a block system, should be considered. Teachers displaced during teaching practice might be given special tuition in the college.

143. Technical teachers should receive professional training in a training college and not in a technical college. Technical instructors could be trained in the same college.

144. Every effort should be made to increase the supply of graduate teachers for secondary schools through the University of East Africa and by attracting returning overseas students to teaching.

145. A crash programme for Kiswahili teachers should be instituted. There should be a great increase in vacation courses for serving teachers specially for upgrading untrained teachers and for bringing teachers abreast of new developments, particularly in science.

146 We hope that the University will establish a Department of Education in Nairobi as soon as possible and that it will subsequently assume responsibility for an Institute of Education, including the research work of the Special Centre.

Recommendations on Some General Questions

147. As a long-term objective, there should be an Inspector in each District and 20 at Head- quarters. They should be specialists of standing. The headquarters group should include staff inspectors for primary, secondary, technical and commercial, and adult education and the training of teachers and provide for the expert supervision of various special aspects of education.

148. More extensive use of specialist advice from the Inspectorate should be made by the Administrative wing of the Ministry. Inspectors should be relieved of administrative duties.

149. Owing to its economic importance, the post of staff inspector for technical and commercial education should be filled immediately by a highly qualified and experienced person.

150. We support the plans of the Ministry of Labour and Social Services for vocational guidance services as a first step towards a fully developed guidance service in schools.

151. Educational research is increasingly important and we urge that the scope of the Special Centre should be enlarged to include it, until it can be taken over by a University Institute of Education.

152. Continuing educational planning should be the responsibility of a planning unit in the Ministry of Education linked with the Government's Directorate of Planning. In addition, we suggest a small advisory body to advise from time to time on general policy.

153. Proper site planning and design of educational institutions is imperative. This involves more systematic preparation of the architect's brief.

154. The advantages of standardisation and bulk-buying should be considered, a cost per place basis of cost control investigated and instalment building avoided as far as possible.

155. We recommend that foreign aid should be canalised into projects within the national plan and conform with national educational policies. To this end, we suggest that a current list of eligible projects be kept on hand.

156. We support the conclusions of the Committee on the Care and Rehabilitation of the Disabled appointed by the Minister for Labour and Social Services. Attention should be given by training colleges to the problems of partially handicapped children in ordinary schools. Schools for handicapped children should rank as 'Special Schools' and be grant- aided under rules drawn up for the purpose.

157. An Inter-departmental Standing Committee should consider the development problems of the under-developed areas, including those in education. The Central Government will need to give special attention to these areas.

158. Voluntary bodies, while ceasing to be general providers, should be encouraged to fill gaps in the national provision and sponsor pilot projects.

Recommendations on Primary School Leaver

159. In dealing with the needs of primary school leavers, we urge that education authorities and others should do everything possible to support the 4-K Clubs; that secondary trade schools specialising in agriculture should be based at present on a one-year course to maximise throughput; and that six-month residential courses be organised at Farmers' Training Centres.

160. An Interdepartmental Committee on the development of areas of the traditional economy should be set up to co-ordinate and inspire the work of participating Departments, includ- ing the Ministry of Education.

Chapter 1 - The Purposes of Education in Kenya

1. This is the first national report on education in Kenya. It is a record of the first national enquiry into the whole of education in Kenya. Previous reports have dealt with 'African Education', or 'European Education', or 'Asian Education' as though they were separate social activities. That is what, indeed, they were, for in colonial days education, like society, was stratified on racial lines. In the territory of Kenya, there were three (and, in fact, for some social purposes, four) racial groups, each living its own separate life and going its own separate way. This sense of separation went very deep, for it extended to the entire social life and customs of the various groups and governed their respective roles in the complex of colonial society. It was, in fact, a caste system, with rigid boundaries only penetrated to any noticeable extent with the near approach of Independence.

2. The treatment of 'African Education' as a separate entity has led to certain historical consequences. 'African Education' has always been the residuary legatee of the nation's wealth. During the ten years before Independence, more capital was invested in European and Asian education, representing 3 % of the population, than in the education of the African 97%. The assumption was that these were separate communities and would remain separate in perpetuity, or at least for a long time to come. Consequently, the education provided for each respectively had, as far as possible, to 'suit' the normal requirements of each. Moreover, the idea was often advanced that there ought to be some correspondence between a community's contribution to the national revenue and the educational dividends that it received from it. Fortified by these theories, the European community tried, with marked success, to reproduce in Kenya schools based on the precedent of the independent schools of England. The Asian communities were always less well provided for, but nevertheless, for them, an attempt was made, with some deference to their social and religious practices, to create a separate Asian school system worthy of an urban commercial and professional population, supplemented out of a lively instinct of self-help. The African majority were left with educational prospects which, despite popular pressure, were limited by sheer numbers, the modest means placed at their disposal and the social and occupational role to which they were restricted.

3. Between the three main systems of education there was, until 1960, no communication. Not only was 'European Education' on a vastly different material standard from its African counterpart, but it was also a different entity, wholly based on a foreign civilisation. 'African Education', on the other hand, tended to be a hybrid, uncertainly hovering between a European model with European subject matter, and an education deemed suitable to the position in colonial life 'appropriate' to the African population. This idea of 'appropriateness' can clearly be seen in the impenetrable nature of the walls surrounding the

three systems respectively. Instead of admitting Africans to the existing European or Asian secondary schools, which was not held to be 'appropriate' in terms of the contemporary social philosophy, a whole new 'African' system of secondary schools was created from 1926 onwards, on a much lower level of capitalisation and with fewer amenities. Only with the establishment of Makerere University College in 1949 was an attempt made to gather together the three systems by providing common facilities. Unfortunately, this brought very few Europeans into the common stream, for the European system in Kenya was, at bottom, an overseas outgrowth of the independent sector of the British system and its outlets were directed towards the British universities and colleges.

4. Unfortunately, these differences were largely self-perpetuating. A European child, brought up in that station in life to which it had pleased a colonial destiny to call him, was effectively trained for a corresponding social role. Like the independent school boy in pre-war England, it never entered his head that he would not occupy a position of authority; still less did the idea of an African 'boss' appear either possible or appropriate. These assumptions were to a large extent reflected on the African side. Except among nationalists and other idealists, the horizon, for practical educational purposes, was for long limited by he occupations of a rural, semi-tribal society and the lowest levels of the pubic administration. So long as the colonial system looked as though it might endure for a good many years (the notion of a white domination was still a political force in 1952) education continued to develop within its racial mould and to respond to the assumptions of a racially stratified society.

5. It will be abundantly clear, from what we have said, that the situation facing us is radically different from that which confronted previous committees of enquiry. In the first place, as our terms of reference remind us our Commission has to think of education as a function of the Kenya nation. This is an entirely new factor Before there was no such thing as a nation, only several nations living side by side m one territory In fact, the previous colonial society could never be, or become, a national society for the dominant interests of the main constituent groups were too fundamentally different. Now, however the equal rights of all citizens, unhindered by considerations of race, tribe or religion, are not only openly acknowledged but are also enshrined in the basic law of Kenya. The concept of harambee is a complete break with the past.

6. Now as we explain at greater length in chapter II, Independence has been won and the foundations of the Kenya nation have been laid, but the structure is not yet complete. Divisive influences from the past attidutes and habits of mind of the colonial social system, cannot be changed overnight. A geographical expression cannot at once become a nation. And so it is not surprising that many of our witnesses, including occupying important positions in our national life, have emphasised to us that henceforth our educational system must help to foster the psychological basis of nationhood.

7. The second difference between our problem and that of previous committees is a matter of social objectives. When the Committee on African Education reported in 1949, African land ownership in the so-called 'White Highlands' and the growing of cash crops by Africans were forbidden by law. Africans could serve as labourers on European farms and they could follow their time-honoured work of cultivation within the African ‘reserves.’ Thus, the context and purpose of -African Education' was set by an occupational occupation. It was no use educating Africans to become modern farmers, because no African could ever become a modern farmer in his homeland. Furthermore, there was a social and political limitation. Only five years later were the first African elected members to appear on the floor of the Legislative Council.

Apart from Chiefs Africans hardly appeared in district administration. In the professions, other than teaching (and teaching only teaching Africans), an African voice was seldom heard. No African had ever held a commission in the army, or been seen on the board of any company. The administrative and senior clerical echelons of banking, industry and commerce were European and Asian preserves. In brief, nearly Significant activities of the modern world were beyond the reach of Africans. In a ‘white’ man s Country’ education for responsibility was largely irrelevant to -African Education'. The door leading into the modem world was indeed not quite closed, but it was only ajar and very few Africans ever passed

8. The third difference that separates us from our predecessors is a question of religious attitudes. In 1949, 'African Education' was still almost entirely provided by the Christian missions and inspired by their ideals and purposes. Drawing an analogy with the United Kingdom, the members of the last major committee of enquiry recommended "that the Government continue to work with and through those voluntary agencies which have the teaching of Christian principles as part of their intention and that facility for Christian instruction be provided in all schools". Our approach must be the approach of the secular state, pledged to respect the convictions of persons of all religions, and of none. To the secular state, the use of any public service to entrench the claims of any religion is repugnant. Consequently, we have had to reconsider the whole question of the relationship of Church and State in education.

9. The fourth main distinction between our mandate and that of colonial committees on education lies in our very specific instructions to consider the relation between education and the economic life and development of the country. This is partly a matter of emphasis, but it is also partly a question of approach.

Our witnesses helped us to see very clearly the close relation between purpose in education and purpose in

life. Not only did they visualise for us the implications of national unity, but they also pointed out the

growing multiplicity of occupations in our developing country and the skills and personal qualities that are

appropriate to them at all levels. We were bound to see education as being in the service, not simply of

men and women as human beings, but of Kenya citizens at a very specific point in K-enya history.

10. Our fifth distinctive contribution had, we felt, to lie in the cultural field. As we listened to our

witnesses, we found a very general conviction among them that under colonial government, and more

specifically under the influence of the Christian missions, much that was good and important in our indi-

genous cultures had been lost, or denigrated. This was not only a question of our African arts and crafts,

but also of our social institutions and our social relationships. We do not wish for one moment to over-

look the artistic side of our culture, but for the purpose of our thinking about education in Kenya it is the

customary aspects of our culture that have seemed of the most importance. The Prime Minister summed

up the problem that we have in mind, when he wrote that "to the Europeans, individuality is the ideal of

life, to the Africans, the ideal is the right relations with, and behaviour to, other people".*

11. Here, we saw ourselves faced with a peculiarly difficult problem of reconciliation and synthesis. The modern world, in which we are now taking our rightful place, is a highly competitive society and nowhere is this competitive atmosphere more clearly reflected than in our education. In our traditional life, the idea of competition, in the sense of every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost, was virtually unknown. The inherently cooperative elements of our culture are expressed in another phrase from Mr. Kenyatta's hand, where, writing of the Kikuyu community, he says that "there is no really individual affair, for everything has a moral and social reference. The habit of corporate effort is but the other side of corporate ownership; and corporate responsibility is illustrated in corporate work no less than in corporate sacrifice and prayer". As we prepare ourselves to make our distinctive contribution in the world, we feel that we cannot accept the logical implications of competition untempered by our own historic instincts and moral values.

12. Yet, in our schools, we find the idea of competition pressed to an astonishing degree. All the way up the scale, thousands of our young people fall out of the race branded 'failed this', or 'failed that'. Some will perhaps say that this grave blemish will never be removed until we are rich enough to provide education for all, according to their needs. But as this happy consummation will not be reached for many years to come, are we to accept a baleful competitive atmosphere, foreign to our natures and to our instincts, as inevitable in the meantime? We cannot accept this conclusion. We must make a determined effort to blunt the edge of competition, for we cannot build a nation out of 'failures'. We must find some way of showing every young person, who leaves our schools (mostly, alas, far too early), that he has in truth a worthwhile and respected part to play in the daily work of our community; that in the chain of co-operation, which is our national harambee, he is an essential and much needed link.

13. Finally, we need to look the social changes which will accompany our economic development squarely in the face. There is no greater error than to suppose that the attitudes and relationships of a traditional, rural community can survive unchanged the transition to a modern, mechanised form of society. What we consider important is that the ensuing changes of economic organisation should be foreseen and that their effect on personal and group relationships should be kept within the influence of conscious social planning. This cannot be done by resisting the social consequences of economic change. Modern productive organisation, which involves a complex system of specialised functions and relationships, if based on the simple patterns of relationship and obligation of the traditional society, would be like a house built on sand. Change in social attitudes is inevitable and must be consciously promoted, mainly for two reasons. First, the promotion of change is necessary in order that economic development may take place without risk of breakdown through human inadequacy. Secondly, change must be promoted in order that it may be controlled. None of us wants to see reproduced in Kenya the experience of drift towards an atomised, de-personalised urban way of life, that has proved one of the gravest human problems of the industrialised countries of the world. That means that we must reconcile personality with organisation. It is manifest that education has an important part to play in preparing for this reconciliation.

14. Enough has been said to show that we have looked upon our task as one that we could not properly fulfil, without going deep into the basic presuppositions of our educational system. We received many valuable memoranda on this subject, we questioned many distinguished witnesses and we kept their advice constantly in mind as we travelled around the country. Moreover, we looked at, and thought about, our schools against a background of social and economic change. Those children, sitting there on the school benches would be called upon a generation hence to serve a very different Kenya from the one that we saw surrounding that simple thatched school house. Would they be able to rise to the challenge? Were we laying, now, firm educational foundations for their future growth? Did we think of education as a continuous process, from childhood to old age ? Could we make dispositions that would provide for the continual re-education of our people to meet the challenge of changing times?

15. Of all these reflexions, perhaps the most urgent in our minds was the need to see education in the context of our national economic development; for upon the adequate fulfilment of' this objective, our ability to reach all other national goals, including those in education, depend. Many witnesses pressed us to underline this purpose in education and we had little difficulty in so doing. That we saw no contradiction between this emphasis and personal intellectual, moral or spiritual development was due to our conviction that these individual fruits of education can never grow in isolation from the performance of practical tasks and the pursuit of concrete objectives. We are persuaded that, wherever there is a challenge, education becomes meaningful. Therefore, as time goes on and the need for education and training becomes visible in terms of production and activity, education will acquire purpose and direction, and students will feel themselves to be under the influence of a stimulus that we must exploit in educational terms. Thus, the closer the link between our efforts in education and the ends of national development, the better for both education and development; especially as we consider that development means eradicating poverty, ignorance and disease from Kenya. Education is never an end in itself: its end is a better life and a fuller service.

16. Together with our witnesses, who spoke to us about the social objectives of education, we believe that all education must conduce towards equality in our society; and that this objective cannot be served unless all children have equal opportunities in education. Obviously, neither the ideal aimed at, nor the goal of equal educational opportunity, can ever be reached absolutely in this imperfect world, yet we recognise both ideal and goal as valid. Further, we see education as an agent for the shaping of society. This is a process in which our schools necessarily play a part, whether they know it or not. We have suggested in our report how they may help to combat divisions of race, tribe and religion and to build in Kenya a united people. We also see our schools as places for training in social obligation and responsibility.

17. The contribution of education to social change is partly to render our people adaptable to change, for our African society is in motion. First, there are the traditional social values, not yet fully blended and reconciled with modernity to form a truly African version of modem society. But secondly, and especially, there is the silent social revolution that is following in the wake of changing methods of production and which, in course of time, will throw up new ideals and new relationships. Our people must be ready for such changes and welcome them, for hesitation and fear will be like grit in the wheels of progress. The older members of our community will need particular help with this. We are a country of young people and youth welcomes change; but older people often do not understand it and can only find their way along well-trodden paths. That is one of the reasons why we have pressed for more attention to adult education, so that the young may help the old to understand. But we do not regard this effort of interpretation as one-way traffic. The old people are the harbingers of our African traditions and in the new synthesis they, too, will have much that is valuable to contribute.

18. As we studied our educational institutions, we were, of course, conscious of the English character of our inheritance. What was to be our attitude towards this aspect of our school system? The Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs referred to our continuing links with the former colonial power in the course of an address at Makerere University College this year and said that Kenya wished to preserve her friendship with Britain and to establish new relations and new fields of co-operation, provided always that it was on a basis of friendship and co-operation and not on one of colonialism or imperialism. We would think it churlish to gainsay the great benefits that we have gained from our English educational heritage. From the practical, though not the philosophical, point of view, it is the starting point for our future planning. But from now on, we in Kenya must go our own way, accepting from other countries any of the fruits of their experience that may be useful to us, and offering them the fruits of ours. We have already, during our drafting of this report, had in mind some of the educational achievements of other countries—the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, China, Denmark, France, the United States of America, our African neighbours—and Britain, too.

19. If we may summarise briefly what we have said about the objectives of education in Kenya, we note the following:

(a) Education is a function of the Kenya nation; it must foster a sense of nationhood and promote national unity.

(b) Education in Kenya must serve the people of Kenya and the needs of Kenya without discrimination.

(c) Our public schools are an instrument of the secular state, in which no religion is privileged, but they must respect the religious convictions of all people.

(d) The schools of Kenya must respect the cultural traditions of the peoples of Kenya, both as expressed in social institutions and relationships.

(e) An excessively competitive spirit in our schools is incompatible with our traditional beliefs and must be restrained. Every young person coming from our schools must be made to realise that he has a valuable part to play in the national life.

(f) Education must be regarded, and used, as an instrument for the conscious change of attitudes and relationships, preparing children for those changes of outlook required by modem methods of productive organisation. At the same time, education must foster respect for human personality.

(g) A most urgent objective of education is to subserve the needs of national development.

(h) Education must promote social equality and remove divisions of race, tribe and religion. It must pay especial attention to training in social obligation and responsibility.

(i) An outcome of our educational provision at all levels must be adaptability to change.

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