...Well, My kids attend a private school. If were going to a public school I would be a very worried parent. During the teachers' strike, there was that one teacher blowing a horn and sitting on top of a vehicle and somersaulting on the road and looking untidy and appearing like he was under the influence alcohol and vangi combined... Then there was also that lady dancing just like the the one who was celebrating the Nairobi's Mayor's win...Are these the people who are molding our children? Children spent more than 70%of the time at school!!!. KNUT should take action against these unruly teachers. But if you ask me the difference between the KNUT officials and teachers 'is the same'

...There was this teacher reported in the news who was interdicted because, instead of teaching Maths, a subject that he was employed to teach, he spent most of the time in class teaching 'the reproductive organs'

I know of a parent who was called to school to discuss the daughter's poor performance in maths and Kiswahili. In the daughter's presence, she complained to the teacher that she too found maths really difficult when she was in school and wondered how Kiswahili adds value. They don't speak Kiswahili at home anyway. Many parents need a bit more wisdom.

....hear hear!!!

...Who will teach them at home...TV! Parents are away most of the time to make ends meet...
...And on the teachers, many of have relapsed to illiteracy and need retraining or some form of refresher classes. I wonder whether the Ministry of education organizes any refresher courses. When I was a teacher in the early 90's such refresher courses used to be there. Rote learning is still very prevalent in our institutions. I once went to a classroom in North eastern Kenya where in an English class, the pupils were asked by the teacher to repeat this sentence, "The cow is eating grass"...for 5 minutes. I had to stop the teacher and ask him when the 'cow will eat grass'.

Sooo true. The teachers are to blame, the school, the church, neighbors kids etc.. I have come across parents who transfer their children to other schools every time they request. I think also the one and two children per family syndrome is to blame. If a parent has six children, he/she has no time to listen to this nonsense of I want to transfer to this or that school.

Please don't shoot me people but will Kiswahili really have value in the future? Would you rather your kid learns swahili or Chinese, Spanish or French? I know what my answer is, venacular, English and one or two foreign languages unless he/she is going to work in Mombasa or Dar.

@2012, Kiswahili ni lugha muhimu sana. Inatumika kote katika nchi wanachama wa Jumuiya ya Afrika Mashariki.

problem is the kiswahili they are taught is not the kiswahili we speak. Pick up any supposedly simple story book in kiswahili and if you go beyond page 3 without reaching for a kamusi, then you teach swahili.
E.g. Book titled "Pupa za Bupa" (3e)(I couldnt even figure out what the title meant)
On page 1: Tulikuwa tunakula chajio wakati baba alipokuja na habari hii nzuri.
i dont know if i eat chajio but i suspect i do.

Yes mathematic and english are very useful to me. Biology and Chemistry just wasted my time, thanks God they are optional subjects now. As for Kiswahili, I couldn't even read the damn Kinjeketile book but I managed to get an A.
All I'm saying is people need not hide behind the illusion of identity in Kiswahili, my boss is from here and can speak fluent Engilsh, French and Spanish, swahili he straggles with but I'm sure he wouldn't excange any of the others for swahili if the offer was put on the table, question is, would you?

So why do they still teach Latin in some British schools? Nobody uses that language anymore!!

I repeat: Education is not just about what you can do with what you are taught; it is MORE about what it does to you... i.e., your thought processes, your style of reasoning, your emotions... your personality...

Some one once said that the "medium is the message". The fact that you have to keep a Kamusi at hand to read and understand a story book makes you realise that whenever there is a difficulty, you can always get help by doing a little research. You don't have to be like the annoying wazuans who are always asking for links whenever there is a breaking story...yet there is google and bing etc!