LECTURE 8

EDUCATIONAL COMMISSIONS IN KENYA

EDUCATIONAL COMMISSIONS BEFORE INDEPENDENCE

Education commission for the East African protectorate of 1919 recommended the
introduction of grants in aid. Before this, African education had mainly left in the hands
of missionaries.

Phelps/Stokes commission of 1924 introduced the Devonshire white paper which

advocated a policy of separate development on racial lines (Oketch and etal 1992). The
European, Asian and Black Kenyan children were to go through separate schools for their
education.

Local native council The councilors pressed the government to start new schools for
Africans since they were dissatisfied with existing concentration on technical education
and the lack of provision for more advanced literary work. Preservation of Africa
culture: Started independent schools in order to preserve and improve African culture.

De-la-warr commission on Higher Education in East Africa of 1937: Following the

recommendations of this commission, Maseno and Man’gu opened as junior secondary
schools in 1938 and 1939 respectively (Sifuna D.N 1992).

Beecher Education Committee of 1949 recommended

 that a small selected group of African children be allowed to transit to secondary
education
 The Committee also recommended the opening of an additional sixteen (16)
secondary schools by 1957 in the context of 4-4-4 system of education (Oketch J.G
and Asiachi A.J, 1992).

POST INDEPENDENCE COMMISSIONS

OMINDE COMMISSION (1964)

This was the first commission after independence chaired by Prof. Simeon Ominde. It
came up with the report of the Kenya Education Commission in 1964.
It sought to reform the education system to make it responsive to the needs of the country
after independence. The commission proposed an education system that would foster
national unity and create sufficient human capital for national development.

The Ominde report was formally adopted in 1965 as a basis for post-independence
educational developments.

Achievements of the Ominde commission

1. From the Ominde Commission recommendations, the Government set out six
clear broad goals of education:

i. National unity
ii. National development
iii. Individual development and self-fulfillment
iv. Social equality
v. Respect and development of cultural heritage
vi. International consciousness

2. The Commission endorsed:

- free primary education,
-the creation of the Kenya Institute of Education,
- recommended a 7-4-2-3 system model of education, seven years of primary cycle,
four years of secondary education, two years of advanced secondary education
and a minimum of three years of university education.
3. Regulating harambee schools-the Ominde Commission noted the rapid growth of
Harambee and other unaided secondary schools because of the demand for
secondary school education.
-But many of these schools were unregistered and lacked basic facilities and
qualified staff, and generally admitted students who may not have performed very
well at the end of primary education.
-The Commission recommended government regulation of those schools to avoid
encouraging unemployment and frustration of their graduates.
4. It also urged the Government to include unaided schools in educational planning
and obtain professional advice by the inspection to these schools.
5. The Commission recommended establishment of the East African Examinations
Board to replace the Cambridge University Local Examinations Syndicate. This
 was to ensure that the proposed curriculum change would be reflected in the
examinations requirements.
6. The team supported the Government’s initiative of abolishing racial segregation
in schools and urged the Government to offer bursaries to African children so that
they could join schools dominated by Europeans and Asians.
7. The Commission recommended the creation of national schools as well as
encouraging all government maintained secondary schools to have 20 per cent of
their students from other parts of the country. Teachers had to be ready to Work
outside their homes and develop a national rather than a tribal outlook.
8. The Commission encouraged development of adult education to enable people
with elementary education to participate in national and economic development.
9. It recommended that religious education be treated as any other academic subject
and should not be used to entrench any particular faith in children.
10. The Commission recommended restructuring of the curriculum from the model
of 4:4:2:2 system – four years of lower primary, four years of upper primary, and
two years of lower secondary and two years of Form 3 and Form 4- which
restricted many African children from proceeding to higher education. Ominde
recommended a 7:4:2:3 system, which would enable children go through seven
years of uninterrupted primary education, four years of secondary from Form 1 to
Form 4, two years of advanced secondary education and a minimum of three years
at the university.
11. It recommended that general planning of education be taken centrally by the
Government, with school committees and Parent Teachers Associations (PTAs)
overseeing administration and management of primary schools.
12. The Commission supported the Governments move to give secondary schools and
other tertiary institutions Boards of Governors to manage them but called for
suitable government control over the Boards’ activities.

THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION OBJECTIVES AND POLICIES –popularly

known as:

GACHATHI COMMISSION (1976) –Chaired by Peter Gachathi

It was set up in 1976 to evaluate the Kenyan education system, design new set of
education goals of the second decade after independence and formulate programmes to
stem rural urban migration, propose plans to promote employment creation and to
suggest how to cut education budget from 15 % to 7%.

Achievements/recommendations

 focused on redefining Kenya’s educational policies and objectives taking into

consideration -national unity and the economic, social and cultural aspirations of
the Kenyan people.

 It recommended the diversification of curriculum to include pre-vocational

subjects/technical subjects

 It resulted in government’s support for ‘Harambee schools’ and

 led to the establishments of the Kenya Institute of Education.

 Foster cooperative effort and responsibility through self-help projects

 Promote cultural values by fostering those that are conducive to national unity.
 Inculcate economic values among the youths; eradicate negative attitudes towards
work, especially manual work.
 It proposed a nine-year basic education for all children in Kenya
 Establishment of the Kenya National Examination Council
 Called for the integration of all Harambee secondary schools into the public school
system
 Make Kiswahili a compulsory subject in primary schools
 Proposed the establishment of the Commission of Higher Education

THE PRESIDENTIAL WORKING PARTY ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE

SECOND UNIVERSITY IN KENYA

MACKAY REPORT/ COMMISSION (1981)-Chaired by Dr. Collin Mackay

-Led to the removal of the a-level of secondary education

It recommended the establishment of a second university without taking over any

existing institutions and therefore led to the establishment of Moi university in 1984

- the expansion of other post-secondary training institutions.

- the commission of higher education.

It was intended to inculcate self- reliance, increase access to education, enable learners to
mature physically and get prepared for secondary education and the world of work.

It was also aimed at promoting acquisition of technical and vocational education and
training

Lead to the establishment of the 8-4-4 system of education. The system :

-moved away from the Old British model of Primary, lower secondary (o’level) upper
secondary (A level) and higher education
- The system was designed to encourage students to become more self-reliant and better
oriented towards self-employment.
-It contained a broad curriculum at both primary and secondary levels, with a strong
emphasis on practical subjects
-Business education was introduced into upper primary as an evidence of encouraging
self-employment and providing basic knowledge and skills on issues such as record
keeping,
-there was a cross- circular emphasis on attitudinal orientation towards self-
employment.
It was hoped that 8-4-4 would orient youths towards self-employment.

Rationale of the 8-4-4 system.

i. Need for a more relevant curriculum;-need for practical oriented curriculum that
will offer a wide range of employment opportunities.
ii. Equitable distribution of education resources;-ensure there are equal
opportunities for all students regardless of their place origin, creed or race by
providing equitable distribution of educational resources
iii. Technical and vocational training;-emphasis on technical and vocational
education to ensure students graduating at every level have some scientific and
practical knowledge that can be used for self-employment, salaried or further
training.
iv. Appreciate and respect dignity of labor.

Criticism of 8-4-4 curriculum

i. It is burdensome to pupils and teachers-requires many books and physical
facilities
 ii. No adequate teachers to implement the new curriculum
iii. A lot of time was required to implement the curriculum resulting to reduced
performance
iv. Vocational subjects were optional and in some cases impractical e.g. Agricultural
in arid areas
v. Lack of essential resources and facilities which were not available in the locality
and locals would not provide them
vi. Lumping up of graduates/ lack of differentiation and specialization

THE PRESIDENTIAL WORKING PARTY ON EDUCATION AND MANPOWER

TRAINING FOR THE NEXT DECADE AND BEYOND

THE KAMUNGE REPORT 1988- chaired by James kamunge

Focused on improving education financing, quality and relevance. This led to the policy
of cost sharing between the government, parents and communities.

It recommended in-service course for school inspectors

Recommended payment of full boarding and feeding fees for students in public schools,
training institutes and universities

Proposed scrapping of personal allowances given to government to students in colleges

and universities

Proposed compulsory primary education

Untrained primary teachers to get in-service training

Proposed admission of day university students and the creation of the Kenya Education
staff institute.

It was acted upon almost to the latter by the government altering the financing of
education and relieving the government from part of the burden of financing education.
It led to the rise in the cost of education resulting in high dropout rates and persistent
repetition of classes.
THE COMMISSION OF INQUIRY OF THE EDUCATION SYSTEM OF KENYA

KOECH COMMISSION 1998

The commission of inquiry of the education system of Kenya was mandated to

recommend ways and means of enabling the education system to facilitate national unity,
mutual social responsibility accelerate industrial and technological development, lifelong
learning and adaption in response to changing circumstances.

It recommended Totally Integrated Quality Education and Training(TIQET). The

government did not adopt the report due to its cost implications but recommendations
such as curriculum rationalization were adopted and implemented.

The Koech Commission recommended reduction of subjects offered at secondary level, a

move it noted would enhance quality at that level and also make the curriculum
manageable.

However, the report introduced a pre-university level that would prepare secondary
school leavers for university and thus enhance the quality of university entrants. Listed
below were other key recommendations of the Koech Report.

1. Provision of a universal and compulsory basic education in which disparities

posed by geographical factors, social and gender issues should be eliminated
leading to equity in education at all levels.
2. Expansion of opportunities at post-secondary level, so that learners can have
flexibility in the pursuit of further studies.
3. Introduction of modular learning approach and credit accumulation in post-
secondary education, which allows for credit transfers from one institution to
another.
4. Introduction of limitless opportunities for access to education through expanded
alternative and continuing education.
5. Introduction of a manageable curriculum content at all levels of education that
does not overburden the learners and teachers.
6. A comprehensive legal framework that addresses previously omitted aspects of
education such as the early childhood care, development and education (ECDE),
 special education and technical education, and which creates new agencies
charged with the delivery and coordination of education services.

THE BASIC EDUCATION CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK

The basic education curriculum framework is the outcome of extensive stakeholder
engagement and deliberations from a national curriculum conference and several
benchmarking studies.

The framework puts a strong emphasis on the importance of science, technology and
innovation as the 8-4-4- system did not provide policies and sufficient resources for the
development of these skills.

A summative evaluation conducted by KICD in 2009 on the primary and secondary

school curriculum, revealed gaps in achievement of national goals of education,
curriculum objectives, capacity of the implementers, assessment and management
structures that support curriculum implementation.

The evaluation recommended that the curriculum should put more emphasis on practical
and vocation education, nurturing of talents and inclusion of critical life skills.

Another taskforce that was tasked to conduct a study of the education status in Kenya
was the reform of the task force on the re-alignment of the education sector to the Kenya
vision 2030 and constitution of Kenya 2010.

It was chaired by Professor Odhiambo and they developed the session paper no 2 of 2015
on reforming education and training in Kenya.

The task force recommended;

 Reforming the education and training sector to provide for the development of the
individual learners potential in a holistic and integrated manner while producing
intellectually, emotionally and physically balanced citizens.

 A competency based curriculum.

 Establishment of a national learning assessment system.

 Early identification and nurturing of talents.

 Introduction of national values and national cohesion and their integration into the
curriculum.

 Introduction of three learning pathways at senior secondary level i.e. Arts and Sports
Science, Social Sciences and STEM( Science, Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics)