Free Primary Education in Kenya Essay

Introduction Since independence in, Kenya has had its sh be of the struggle to demonstrate it practical for its world attains reading for whole. This was out(p) of the realization that instruction of the population would attend to fight ills that faced the society, among them included poverty, ignorance, and disease. In fact, the governing body treated schooling as a basic mature for every Kenyan child. commandment has ever since been regarded as a native factor for benevolent capital maturement. In response to this urge, governing body developed constitution documents that chassis to expand access to direction for its citizens.It is internationally recognized that every unmatchable has a right to education, as agreed upon at various international conferences. Kenya tried to adjudge on the declarations seriously by ensuring that children soak up ease access to basic education. The door of the Free elemental Education Policy in Kenya in 2003, however, provoke s analysts to ecstasy criticisms on the same. We terminate try to understand the concept of Free Primary Education by raising fundamental philosophical pursuanceions that may help us reflect on the policy. Reasons for introducing Free elementary education.As already introduced earlier, there have been good reasons for the provision of education for all citizens. The Kenyan government and a nonher(prenominal) leaders believed that an educated populace lead, among other things, be in a position to combat poverty, ignorance, and fight diseases. Inspired by these objectives and that of international mention, Kenya may be justified in its continued quest for the introduction of policies that actualizek to expand the education sector. Since independence, the earth has witnessed an increase in the number of learning institutions.Literacy takes, especially, among the adults have increased tremendously. Educational services and facilities have spread all over the country ensuring r elative uniformity in the takes of education among the people. Research findings revealed that the enrollment at primary shallows has more than double and indication that people needed the service seriously. However, there have been portentous regional disparities as well conduct as gender disparities in the primary schools as far as access to education is adjoined (UNESCO, 2005).This has been one of the major reasons for the continued need for Universal Primary Education (UPE). This truly acknowledges that the need for throw in primary education is justifiable. With these as mental nones politicians use it to identify a powerful tool to include in their crusade manifestos. And in 2002, the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) politicians effectively tapped the opportunity resulting in their landslip victory to power during the general election. Nature of free primary school Those who came up with the policy mush have thought out well the use of the terms that would sell the policy.In its technical sense, the statement meant the abolition of fees in all government schools as from 2003 academic year, provision of few learning materials to pupils, parents would continue to buy school uniforms and other agreed-upon levies, and that the funding of other non-salary expenditure comes in the form of grants from the government. However, with the political euphoria that swept the country past, the literal meaning of the policy was oversimplified to the level that it even confused only when the actors in education.For purposes of wooing voters, politicians implied that the education of their children would be completely free of charge. Parents were the more or less affected by this assertion since by January 2003 they had no plans to incur both costs in the education of their children at the primary school level. The and so Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) declared the FPE Policy in Kenya. The government and development partners we re to pay fees and levies for tuition, meet the cost of basic teaching and learning materials as well as wages for critical non-teaching staff and co-curricular activities.Parents were then pass judgment to facilitate the refurbishing of existing facilities. Any additional charges were to be approved by the government through the ministry of education. The complexity of the problem is heightened by the use of the phrase free. Free as a term in position instrument to be able to act at testament, not hampered not under compulsion or restraint to do something. It to a fault means costing nothing. The term has other numerous meanings that differ under effrontery circumstances or contexts. We may therefore even wonder whether education john be free or not.Is it possible to resist education in solecism one is not interested in taking it freely? If free is taken to mean what is supposed to mean in this context, how free is free? This term, therefore, may be ambiguous and is subject to misrepresentations and thusly addicted to misinterpretations. This is most likely to occur if low effort is make to brighten the meaning of the usage. Clarity is one of the most important elements of each(prenominal) policy so as to avoid multiple interpretations. Community participation The leash disturb here is the need to understand how the stakeholders in the education mute the policy.The policy was formulated without consulting those who are closely concerned with practice of education and those are teachers and parents. This resulted in the lack of clear guidelines for the implementation of free education as a government policy. The teachers were not adequately prepared to cope the influx of pupils of all ages. Little effort was made to in-service teachers and carry out seminars for the parents in order to prepare them for the great changes that awaited them. In fact, as already mentioned above, many parents had a general misconception rough the meaning of free edu cation.Most of them thought that they were no longer expected to play any aim in the running of the school hence they lost a sense of ownership. Since the local fundraising and voluntary contributions for schools, by implication, were abolished, communities also thought that they had no role to play in the running of the school since the government will take care of everything. This lack of proper communication becomes our major concern from a philosophical perspective. This, therefore, calls for a sustained and comprehensive communication scheme for the policy if it is to remain practical.The policy should also clarify the sources of funding for the schedule, adequately explain the roles of various stakeholders, provide a framework for in take overing orbit especially due to the age-variation in the enrolled pupils, and provide regular communication about the developments in the program. For a young graduate of less than thirty days expecting an old man like Mzee Maruga in cla ss, it has effects on yield and end results of the teacher. How ell prepared was the teacher to handle such(prenominal) age disparities among the pupils? This then becomes an enigmatic question.Logistical supplyWith the challenges facing the implementation of the FPE program, we may also investigate to know whether adequate logistics for its implementation were put in place. A well designed policy should be logical systemally arranged from the smudge of initial implementation and the subsequent stages. This implies that the policy makers should be in a position to anticipate the possible risks and take precautionary measures to address them. However, from a critical analysis of the free education in Kenya, it is evident that little was through as far as ensuring the successful implementation of the program is concerned.A good policy is supposed to point out the possible huddles and recommendations for overcoming them. Poor planning has affected the program in many ways. cardinal of the most obvious is shortage of teaching and learning resources. The delay in remittance of the funds and the its wretched management at the school level has cause a serious problem where what is supposed to have been supplied is only there in record but not in reality. heretofore the interrogation that has been done by the donor organizations, showed serious shortages caused by absence seizure of what was supposed to have been supplied.Given that the managers, who in this case are the head teachers, were not trained on management of finances and how to make reports, reward was taken quickly to syphone the same funds into their own usage. Overcrowding The other thought is characterized by overcrowding in most primary schools due to increased enrollments and hence increased pupil-teacher ratio. In fact, congestion in classrooms has made a scoff of the rationale for the introduction of FPE program. The characteristic delay in the release of government funds only serve to crow n the already created problems.It beats logic to cause more problems in the process of solving another. The report by the increment bank for Reconstruction and Development 2009, reported that, most communities did not bother to support the buildings of the school for they were assured that the government would do all. further this was not the case, most schools now look ike abandoned dens, where no gracious beings dwell. The buildings are dilapidated and now parents are withdrawing their children to secluded schools, and thus see the growth of private schools.The policy is also strict on any attempts by the school committees to solicit funds from parents. This has made them feel so constrained in their duties of managing the school owing to the cumbersome procedures required for instituting levies. tour a blind eye on the potential threats accompanying such a sensitive policy as is FPE is utmost disregard of fundamental concerns. In addition to clarity, therefore, logic require s a comprehensive analysis of a policy like the FPE with an aim of identifying the underlying assumptions and the ultimate implications, especially upon implementation.This will ensure systematic implementation and timely solution of emerging issues. The government should make an effort to supervise the policy at the grassroots level. Up to recent most poor parents still belief that the promises government made at election time will still be done forgetting that much was election promise and once the vote is given all is forgotten. Even to increase the number of teachers as a basic concern has not been looked at. Why then should the government give people something that does not work?Too few teachers as compared to too many students results into poor performance, while the children of the able ones get better education in private schools. Education and social change Looking at all these aspects how can education be looked upon as the ultimate solution to societal problems? Although research findings reveal that there is a positive correlation between the level of education and sparing prosperity, it may be a misguided sight to believe that free education is the sole solution of social problems. This concern is related to the motives of introducing free education programs by the government of Kenya since independence.Pupils will still drop out of school due to other reasons and not for economic reasons. Holistic approaches as advocated by the international Universal Primary Education (UPE), therefore, should be adopted if education is to play a greater role in empowering the populace. Conclusion The challenges experienced in the implementation of FPE program can be traced to the uncritical design of the policy. Many political considerations seem to take center-stage during the proposal and formulation of such policies which end up creating more problems later.This implies that a clear and logical situation analysis should be conducted if meaningful policies a re to be developed and hence ensuring their sustainability. The bottom line here, therefore, is the need to appeal fundamental philosophical questions during the primary stages of any policy formulation in order to ensure that all concerns are dealt with in advance. That implies that good planning is required. This ensures logistical problems to be sorted out in advance, training be done of those who are directly involved from the grassroots levels.And in the case of primary schools, parents and teachers are to be explained to understand the role for each player. Unless the biotic community is meant to understand it becomes hard for the policy to succeed. References 1. International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (2009). Abolishing school fees in Africa lessons from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, and Mozambique a publication of the World Bank in Collaboration with UNICEF. World Bank Publications 2. UNESCO (March 2005). Challenges of Implementing free Primary Education in Kenya. Assessment Report. UNESCO Nairobi Office.