Like I pointed out in my last post, there is a lot more that I would want to share on what challenges education in the Kilifi society.
POVERTY
Poverty is one of the biggest challenges that hinder education in our great County of Kilifi. After the free primary education was announced, almost every young man or woman who had dropped out of school rushed to join school again. Schooling had been made easy. No fee was required, no significant money to pay for anything. Primary education was truly free then.
Several years down the line, primary education is no longer as free as it was even after being made a law that it would continue to be free almost forever. Today there are many expenses that pupils have to pay for if they are to remain in school. That's the primary education not even secondary. Poverty has therefore denied children access to education. These children come from extremely poor families(and that's the situation of very many families in Kilifi) which can with difficulties only afford to take care of their stomachs. It's from these families that teachers demand KES 200 for games from each pupil( imagine a family with more than three pupils in the same school), exam fees of more than KES 100 for each pupil, and many other monies that at the end the parents can not afford and so the pupils are sent home every day and at last they drop out of school. Thereafter, God knows the kind of life they live. POVERTY is what has denied these children their right to education. It has denied them the very basic education.This menace is what denies them a bright and colorful future. It's not their wish. Not their fault. It's the fault of poverty, the denier of education to many brilliant children in Kilifi County.
That is just for the primary education where the amount of money required to be paid may even be less than KES 3000 per year. What about the secondary education where the fees will never be less than KES 15000 even in the cheapest day schools? So, before even one thinks of joining high school, they first think of its possibility. If it was difficult in primary, how about secondary? At this point, many get discouraged and give up. They stop working hard. With one reason in mind; POVERTY. They say, "if it's hard in primary, what will make it easy in high school?" They end their education with failing in primary education. They can't progress. POVERTY has stopped them.
For the few that make it to high school, the challenge continues. Being sent home almost every other week and when they get home, their is no money to take them back to school. They stay home for two weeks. Them and their parents struggle and they get very little money. They go to school with that. In school, they are kept for one week and the next week they are sent home again. Good Lord!!! How will such students excel? What time do they have to read? Do they even have time to see a teacher teach? Definitely, they end up failing in their final examinations. That's better. Others don't even get the opportunity to finish and do the examinations.
That is what POVERTY does to education in KILIFI COUNTY.
POOR MANAGEMENT OF SCHOOLS.
This is another problem facing education in Kilifi. The management of schools is so poor. It does not have the students interest at heart, instead, it's selfishness that runs the day. The management want to always benefit at the expense of the student. Resources that would be used to harness academic excellence are otherwise used for very different purposes. Some of the school administrators do not even know how to handle students in a way that would motivate the students to work harder. In as much as success depends by a big percentage on the student, the management has got a big role to play in ensuring the student succeeds.
Many a times, the community complains that schools in Kilifi are fond of going for strikes but less times do they look into what exactly the problem is. If you look into it keenly, you will realize that the problem is the school management. Instead of blaming the students on indiscipline and whatever reasons people give, why don't people scrutinize the managements?
I don't have much on this management thing but something needs to be done in our schools.
INDISCIPLINE
In as much as there are so many challenges facing education in Kilifi, we can not exhaust them if we don't touch on indiscipline. This is one of the big challenges. I have no idea where it emanates from but it's really a big problem. I may call it a song because it has for ages been said that discipline is the key to success. It will always remain to be. Unfortunately, discipline is what matters less to many students in Kilifi. To them it's a big thing to be undisciplined, it's a thing to be proud about. What they forget and only remember after school is that excellence and discipline are inseparable.
I have taught in a few schools in Kilifi and also interacted with very may students during my talks in the schools. Many times do I pity many of them because of how they behave. It's like they are not in school or do not know why they are in school to be precise.
From what I know, discipline is wholesome, it's in everything, from the way you appear, to the way you respond to issues. Discipline is very key. If you saw how some of these students dress, talk, respond to issues, do their things, you would think they are not in school. This translates to their academics too, they are indiscipline in following the school programme and even their own time tables. and that's where they fail most. The end result is failing in their internal to the external exam. Discipline is very key in education. I rest my case.
POVERTY
Poverty is one of the biggest challenges that hinder education in our great County of Kilifi. After the free primary education was announced, almost every young man or woman who had dropped out of school rushed to join school again. Schooling had been made easy. No fee was required, no significant money to pay for anything. Primary education was truly free then.
Several years down the line, primary education is no longer as free as it was even after being made a law that it would continue to be free almost forever. Today there are many expenses that pupils have to pay for if they are to remain in school. That's the primary education not even secondary. Poverty has therefore denied children access to education. These children come from extremely poor families(and that's the situation of very many families in Kilifi) which can with difficulties only afford to take care of their stomachs. It's from these families that teachers demand KES 200 for games from each pupil( imagine a family with more than three pupils in the same school), exam fees of more than KES 100 for each pupil, and many other monies that at the end the parents can not afford and so the pupils are sent home every day and at last they drop out of school. Thereafter, God knows the kind of life they live. POVERTY is what has denied these children their right to education. It has denied them the very basic education.This menace is what denies them a bright and colorful future. It's not their wish. Not their fault. It's the fault of poverty, the denier of education to many brilliant children in Kilifi County.
That is just for the primary education where the amount of money required to be paid may even be less than KES 3000 per year. What about the secondary education where the fees will never be less than KES 15000 even in the cheapest day schools? So, before even one thinks of joining high school, they first think of its possibility. If it was difficult in primary, how about secondary? At this point, many get discouraged and give up. They stop working hard. With one reason in mind; POVERTY. They say, "if it's hard in primary, what will make it easy in high school?" They end their education with failing in primary education. They can't progress. POVERTY has stopped them.
For the few that make it to high school, the challenge continues. Being sent home almost every other week and when they get home, their is no money to take them back to school. They stay home for two weeks. Them and their parents struggle and they get very little money. They go to school with that. In school, they are kept for one week and the next week they are sent home again. Good Lord!!! How will such students excel? What time do they have to read? Do they even have time to see a teacher teach? Definitely, they end up failing in their final examinations. That's better. Others don't even get the opportunity to finish and do the examinations.
That is what POVERTY does to education in KILIFI COUNTY.
POOR MANAGEMENT OF SCHOOLS.
This is another problem facing education in Kilifi. The management of schools is so poor. It does not have the students interest at heart, instead, it's selfishness that runs the day. The management want to always benefit at the expense of the student. Resources that would be used to harness academic excellence are otherwise used for very different purposes. Some of the school administrators do not even know how to handle students in a way that would motivate the students to work harder. In as much as success depends by a big percentage on the student, the management has got a big role to play in ensuring the student succeeds.
Many a times, the community complains that schools in Kilifi are fond of going for strikes but less times do they look into what exactly the problem is. If you look into it keenly, you will realize that the problem is the school management. Instead of blaming the students on indiscipline and whatever reasons people give, why don't people scrutinize the managements?
I don't have much on this management thing but something needs to be done in our schools.
INDISCIPLINE
In as much as there are so many challenges facing education in Kilifi, we can not exhaust them if we don't touch on indiscipline. This is one of the big challenges. I have no idea where it emanates from but it's really a big problem. I may call it a song because it has for ages been said that discipline is the key to success. It will always remain to be. Unfortunately, discipline is what matters less to many students in Kilifi. To them it's a big thing to be undisciplined, it's a thing to be proud about. What they forget and only remember after school is that excellence and discipline are inseparable.
I have taught in a few schools in Kilifi and also interacted with very may students during my talks in the schools. Many times do I pity many of them because of how they behave. It's like they are not in school or do not know why they are in school to be precise.
From what I know, discipline is wholesome, it's in everything, from the way you appear, to the way you respond to issues. Discipline is very key. If you saw how some of these students dress, talk, respond to issues, do their things, you would think they are not in school. This translates to their academics too, they are indiscipline in following the school programme and even their own time tables. and that's where they fail most. The end result is failing in their internal to the external exam. Discipline is very key in education. I rest my case.
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