Obi 1 Kanobi wrote:
This is what we need to implement in Kenya for our education system to get to the next level. Exams should be for assessment only and not for placement in preferred schools.
The practice of competing for basic education creates a culture of scarcity which endures throughout our lives.
The government should introduce schools zoning for basic education, and then divest from universities and let them be run without govt interference.
The input of the govt in education should end at standard setting and funding.
Teachers should also be directly employed by schools complimented maybe by local govt and not by the PSC.
If Kenyans want schools to be based on zones then they should put zoning in place before making such a drastic change. And make sure each zone has sufficient schools. For example, You can't have a zone with 10,000 standard six pupils and only one school.
Also People should know exactly which schools are in their zone and they should have proper documentation to prove that they live in that zone.
But zoning still does not address what to do if a parent wants their children to attend a boarding school. Imagine if you live in South B and their is no boarding school in your zone. Yet your child will only succeed if they go to boarding since the home is too crowded.
In western countries, this is not an issue because most parents want day schools. There are very few boarding schools and those that exist are typically private and expensive and thus mainly for rich people.
And finally it might be too late to introduce zoning in Nairobi since the city was not planned with school zones in mind. Imagine a zone like Kibera with 500,000 people. Kibera zone will require at least 5 additional schools. Where is the space to build those schools?
And if you are born in Kibera and all the schools in your zone are mediocre, you are doomed to attending a mediocre school. As a parent, you cant aspire to better your child by sending them to Starehe or any good school because its not in your zone. You are doomed to mediocrity.
All these factors needed to be considered before such a drastic change.