The free education policy in Kenya

The free education policy in Kenya: A critical review by: EUNICE GATHONI

                              ABSTRACT

Reforms in the education sector are necessary for any country as they enhace quality of learning outcomes.This can only be made possible through targeted  and specific policies that are well thought out through the collaboration of all stakeholders;especially the government agencies.This article review looks into a major policy change in Kenya that is meant to reform the basic education offered in primary schools. It looks at a paradim shift, from a fee-paying system to the introduction of Free Primary Eduction (FPE). This was neccesiated by the need to improve quality and access to the target population.Educational reforms are beneficial in a country if the reforms benefit the intended target group. Immediately after independence,the newly formed  government  then purposed to eradicate three major challenges namely;poverty,disease and ignorance. As such,the government embarked on provision of FPE  through budgetary allocation and this goal was fully realized by 1978.However,after the Structural Adjustment programme in the 90's, a new policy by the name "cost-sharing"was introduced.It is observed that due to this policy adjustment,a lot of children  from poor backgrounds droppd out of school as fees and other levies kept on rising. This continued upto 2003 when a new poltical regime came into power and reinstituted FPE in actualization of a compaign pledge . In this article,i will critically discuss the FPE policy in kenya as well as look into some of the benefits and shortcomings within the policy formulation,implementation and actualization.The suggestions made here in are in the best interest in regards to development and implementation of policies as well as resolve the challenges that go with it in an apt manner.

Key words: Policy, primary education,implementation,actualization,

                                          INTRODUCTION

Every country must investment widely in the education sector as it is a vital sector in  a country's strategy of development.This is because education is one of the most powerful ways to promote progress,both socially and economically to produce both productive and responsible citizens (UNICEF,2001).Just like in many developing countries,education in Kenya is seen a solution to all problems of development  and progress.It is seen as a magic wand to all problem of development and an important factor in solving problems arising from poverty,ignorance,fear and servility and in assisting a country move towards modernity (Court and Ghai,1974).

In the last six years,  Kenya has undergone through several educational reforms,so as to address the overall goals of nationl Economic Strategy Paper (ESP) and keep on its iternational commitments.These include, millinium development goals,Education For All (EFA) and ensuring it delivers on policies as set out in Sectional Paper No.1 of 2005 on policy framework for education,training and research.

The  reforms started with the launch  and implementation of Free Primary Education in January 2003.This new intiative ensured that primary school fees and other charges were done away with and so more children from poor backgrounds were sent to school as the government allocated finances for FPE (MOEST,2005).As result, public schools registered an explosion in admissions at the beginning of the school calender in 2003.This was attributed to the fact that several children who could not afford fees were now able to get enrolled into pulic schools (MOEST,2005).

Another  outstanding change was in the curriculum,for example,there was a notable reducation  in the number of subjects taught in primary schools to only five. Schools also registered an increased pupil-teacher ratio from 32:1 to 45:1, which pushed the government to have a multi-grade teachers in some of the schools.Later on,it can be observed that the selection of primary school teachers was decentralised from the headquarters in Nairobi to the districts offices all over the country. However,much as the kenyan government seemed to have made progress by lauching and implenting FPE,some challanges cropped up immediately.For instance,it became apparently clear that public primary schools were overwhelmed with numbers and resources,both fixed and recurrent were not enough and were much outstreched. This would soon give rise to another problem on how these huge numbers would be transited to secondary schools,which in turn would spill over to higher institutions of learning ( Kathuri,2006).

          BACKGROUND HISTORY TO THE INTRODUCTION OF FREE

PRIMARY EDUCATION (FPE)

The history of free and compulsory education in most countries have drawn its international legal backing from the  1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights,the Universal Declaration 1989,convention of the rights of the child, the 1990 World Summit for children and the 1990 world conference on education for all ,held in Jomtien (Thailand).It can be noted that of all these,a lot of emphasis is placed on 1990 Convention on the rights of children;of  which Kenya is party to thus must ensure all children are provided to free compulsory basic education.It is worth noting that the writer correctly highlights on quality of content,mode of delivery,women empowerment,conservation of the environment ,promotion of human rights and democracy among others (Arubayi,2006). However, it is regeratable that over 50%  of children that  are supposed to be enrolled in school in Kenya do not still have access to free and compulsory education (OECD,1996).

In connection to that, Fafunwa (2001) correctly observes that in the sub-Saharan Africa,over 40 million children are not able to enrol in primary schools.The World Bank (2004) notes that when fees and other levies were abolished in Kenya,enrolment rates shot up by 90% after the introduction of the new policy in 2003 (MOEST, 2005).

It is interesting to note that the idea of Free Primary Education was introduced by the new post-colonial Kenya government policy,thus not a novel idea.This was one of major its aims and development strategy,which was to attain universal primary education as stipulated in sessional paper No. 10 of 1965.This was followed by the government declaration in 1974 which offered free primary education  from  class 1-4 and later, full free primary education  in 1976.

Kenya is a signatory to the world declaration of Education for All (Jomtien, 1990) and the world summit for children (1990) which committed all countries to achieve Education for All by 2015.As such, the government set 2005 as the target year for the attainment of Universal Primary Education (UPE). The enactment of the children's Act in parliament pushed this target further and in January 2003.The Kenyan government declared free primary education,an idea that was fully realized in Kenya in 2003 ( Kenya,2008).

 

            FREE PRIMARY EDUCATION POLICY: A CRITICAL VIEW

Free primary education (FPE) reform in Kenya came to be as a result of political campaigns promises in the  year 2002. This seems to assert Marshall and Peters (1999) observation that every major reform in the education sector is a political act and an authoritative resolution of tensions between competing interests and purposes. In accordance to Canningham (1985 in Rose, 2004) the process of policy making should undergo the following steps: initiation, definition,deliberation, enactment and consequences.

At intiatiation stage,there is problem identification that leads to policy intiation. The next step is problem definition, a stage that is likened to a diseases that has been identified but can not be attended to unless properly diagnosed. However, paying all attention to symptoms of the disease at this stage solves nothing as there is no actual treatment.It is therefore clear that,to find a solution to an issue,the problem must be accurately defined (Canningham,1985), which is the second step.

Deliberation is the third stage which holistically,involves modelling all possible actions and consequences for each reference party.Canningham (1985) notes that deliberation stage is a challanging one which may need policy formulators  to consider the political dynamics of the day against the community. Hasty decisions in this area should be avoided for a once policy is formulated,its hard to back out.

Agreably,it is thus important to bring on board necessary stakeholders for advisory purposes.The stakeholders input goes beyond advisory as it may also prepare different courses of action of such groups apart from providing support for the course. The next is enactment stage,where the policy implementation is placed on the table of managers and administrators of different units for action. In the kenyan education sector,this could be the county,sub-county directors of education as well as school headteachers.

 The final stage which is at the consequences stage,which calls for the actual results of the policy to be perceived,digested and re-evaluated for further action as well as  corrections to be made possible. As observed by Marshall and Peters (1999),formulation of educational policies on the basis of economic and social policies is a complicated process.As such,it can be observed that it calls for both political sensitivity and professional understanding as to how political objectives change when translated to the field of education.Atkinson (1993) also  put it this way," it is only on the basis of appropriate information and cool-headed diagnosis of an education system that a government can make better choices".The reason is that major educational decisions must be a compromise between competing factors that generate tensions. Thus,if such tensions are not caught and arrested in time  by the necessary actors,the actualization of the policy may be endangered.

In agreement with the writer,this assertion is true as prior to the implementation of the free primary education reform, the stages involved in policy formulation were overloooked. The stakeholders input was not extensively sought for, nor incorporated  prior to actual implementation.Cosequently, Eicher (1984) also states that policy planners  should identify interest groups as well as weigh their openness to reform. For instance,the community and teachers can be a powerful force in supporting an educational reform especially if they are well organized.  Given that the government resources are often constrained, its response to peoples' expectations must be proritized,formally announced and given sufficient time for implementation before they may be judged or reviewed (Birdshall,1989).

              POSITIVE EFFECTS OF THE INTRODUCTION OF FREE PRIMARY EDUCATION POLICY

Though the policy introducing the free primary education programme generated alot of political overtones, it recorded positive effects in the lives of many children in Kenya. Arguably,the government looks at compulsory basic education as the best solution to equality between both genders. The momentum towards the achievement of FPE positively demonstrates of the nation’s commitment to human rights in conformity with the adopted conventions (Kenya, 2008). The  national education curriculum in Kenya is geared towards enhancement of unity,social, economic and cultural aspirations of Kenyans (MOEST, 2005). Free primary education policy implementation is aimed at easing the burden from the parents by abolishing school levies so as to increase equity and accessibility to schools (UNESCO, 2005).

It can be argued that as a provider of free primary education programme, the government thus becomes an important stakeholder in the education sector.In return it looks forward to creating better relationships between government education agencies, school management committees and parents (Kenya, 2008). One may also argue that , introduction of such a policy was in recognition of its significance as a basic right of all Kenyan children as articulated in the children’s Act of 2001.

         CHALLENGES OF THE FREE PRIMARY EDUCATION POLICY IN KENYA

As with any other government policies,the introduction of FPE in Kenya has had some rough patches in its actualization journey.A study conducted by UNESCO (2005) indicated that after the initial euphoria of the Free Primary Education policy, there was declined comprehensive communication strategy  to sustain the same. Information on the roles of the many stakeholders was scarce.Confussion in roles led to lost interest in support of the new policy which was necessary for its successs. Consequently,the study by UNESCO also found out that the implementation of the programme without prior consultation with other relevant stakeholders affected the policy implementation negatively.Equally, lack of preparation of teachers and regular communication to create awareness on the roles of each stakeholder had slowed down the smooth implementation of the free primary education policy.Another challenge was the general misconception in the intepretation of free education, as parents construed it to mean that they were no longer required to participate in school activities whatsoever.

It can be observed that political leaders also fueled  more confusion as they indicated to parents and communities that all other forms of contribution on their part was no longer necassary (UNESCO, 2005).As expected,parents became relaxed as they abdicated all their responsibities as key players in the schooling of their children. In addition,politicians also disseminated incomplete infomation about the FPE that paid all attention to the 'free' bit only.Needless to say, this reform policy led to increased enrollment, that in turn had led to other various issues. (Kenya,2008) in his study, for instance ,concluded that the high enrolment led to overcrowding as physical classes were not enough. This gave rise to challenges in content delivery and less individualised attention to the learners. Consequently,the call by ( UNESCO,2009) that demands of child friendly schools seemed unachivable in many schools. Inevitably, the policy also attracted partial return of school levies disguised as 'development funds' so as to provide for construction of more classes .Another challenge that stemmed out of this overcrowding in schools was indiscipline among the students.This was because the teachers were overwhelmed by the large numbers and so control and management of the learners became an issue.

The teachers' workload without a corresponding raise in salary demotivated several of them (Kenya, 2008). As the enrolment kept on increasing, the teachers could not give individualized attention to each learner and especially the slow ones which then affected the learning outcomes negatively.Agreably,large number of students without corresponding increase in the number of teachers led to acute teacher shortages.The teacher-pupil ratio on average was 1:70 in most schools (UNESCO, 2005).

 It can be observed  that this policy reform in education has been of great challenge to the government. Probably,the government should have started with a pilot program before a full role-out for up till now, a large porton of funding FPE comes from external donors (UNESCO, 2003). This is a fragile situation that would affect the whole education system in Kenya should the donors pull out unexpectedly for any reason.

A research by( UNESCO,2005) in Kenya indicated that there had been some decline in enrollment in public schools due to learners dropping out and transfers to private schools. This has been blamed on unfriendly learning environments, caused by overcrowding in the classrooms and lack of basic facilities. Another observation  by Kenya (2008) is that the government budget calendar year differs with the school calendar; which makes procurement for goods and services delay. This maybe an indicator  that the Free Primary Education policy could be a tough policy on the goverment. Another observation is on the school funds mismanagement by school heads and management committees as proper training on FPE funds was not carried out before disbursmnents.

The various shortcomings may jeopadize the realization of this policy reform in the education sector.However,should proper procedures be put in place,most challenges may be sorted out as they came up (Kenya, 2008).

         CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

It correct to conclude by stating that, the introduction of the Free Primary Education policy in Kenya was a step in the right direction despite its political genesis. This was a welcome intervention for parents whose children had dropped out of primary school.However,its manner of intiation and implementation possed lots of challenges to its survival. Thus ,this should serve as a learning point to educationists and politicians who are charged with policy formulation that  largely impact the society.Due diligence should be taken to ensure that all stages of policy formulation are correctly followed.

 

                                                    

                                                   

 

                                                   REFERENCES

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UNESCO, (2003). Policy Review Report : Early Childhood Care and Education In Kenya.

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UNESCO, (2005). Challenges of implementing free primary education in Kenya. UNESCO Assessment Report,March, 2005.

World Bank, (2004). School Fees. A Roadblock to EFA. Education Notes,Washinton D.C.:World Bank.

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