History of Education in Western Kenya
1896 Construction of the Kenya-Uganda Railway line was started at Mombasa in 1896 and reached Port Florence (Kisumu), on the eastern shore of Lake Victoria, in 1901.
1900 The line arrived at the present site of the city of Nairobi. Nairobi owes its existence to railway engineers who drained a vast swamp, thus enabling the construction of permanent buildings. Indian labourers began commercial activities to cater for railway crews and colonial administrators.
1902 The expansion of the railway encouraged missionaries to establish schools in Kenya’s interior so that’s why (amongst other reasons) the railway was so important to the growth of education.
1903 The first school in western Kenya was established at Kaimosi. In the early 20th century various Christian missions provided most of the schools in Kenya, and the Society of Friends (Quakers) played an active part in this.
The missions tended to divide the country between them, so as not to compete: as a result Friends and their schools are concentrated in western Kenya to this day. Girls were encouraged to attend from the beginning, and after some initial hesitation due perhaps to reluctance to allow girls to be educated, they were soon participating in broadly equal numbers.
1908 Missionaries formed a joint committee on education that later became the Missionary Board of Education, and the following year the British government established an education board.
1920 The British Government took over the territories of Kenya and Uganda from the Imperial British East Africa Company. Kenya became a colony of the Crown under direct administration of the Colonial Office in London.
1923 In 1923 the British secretary of state established a committee to advise on the educational affairs of the African-Kenyans and this marked the beginning of the first educational policy by the British colonial government.
1924 Kenya was a British colony at this time. The Kenya Legislative Council began to invest resources in schools and to influence their curricula and teaching quality. As part of this, Friends set up two intermediate schools at Kaimosi, one for boys and one for girls, where study for five years was possible. Kenyans became increasingly involved as teachers. The growing Quaker church and its schools, under the leadership of the missionaries, could not possibly meet all the needs themselves. Some significant early teachers include Yohano Amugune, Joel Litu, Daudi Lung’aho, Maria Atiamuga, Maria Maraga and Rasoah Mutua.
1932 African Government School Kakamega established. Now known as Kakamega High School, this provincial secondary school excels in academics, drama and sports.
1946 After the Second World War, the campaign for Kenyan independence grew rapidly, and religious independence became part of that. It also stimulated more demand for schools, and for more advanced education. This increased the need for teachers with the professional skills to handle advanced work, and many of these were not missionaries in the old sense. Some saw themselves as missionaries with a professional role, and others saw themselves as professionals who were also Quakers. At secondary level, many were still expatriate, though the Kaimosi Teachers College trained many primary teachers.
1949 Some intermediate schools were recommended for upgrading to secondary including the boys and girls schools at Kaimosi. This caused great tension amongst Friends, as the northern area around Lugulu felt that far too much was concentrated in the south, at Kaimosi. In the end it was agreed that the boys school would be transferred to the north, and it was opened as Kamusinga Friends School in 1957.
1960 The first advanced Teachers Training College which produced qualified KTI now known as P1 Teachers was started at Kaimosi. Known as Kaimosi Teacher’s College its status rose to prominence in the 80’s under the leadership of Principal Ben Udoto. Ben Udoto has served as Chairman of CES Kenya since 2003.
1963 Kenya gained independence on 12th December 1963, and between 1964 and 1985, the 7–4–2–3 system was adopted – seven years of primary, four years of lower secondary, two years of upper secondary, and three years of university. The first class or year of primary school is known as Standard 1, the final year as Standard 8.
At independence the Kenyan Government took over control of all schools. Friends Schools as well as other faith based schools continue to this day, but they are very much part of the state system.
1970 Namirama Friends SS for Girls and Shikoti Girls SS established. Namirama Girls and Shikoti Girtls are the oldest of 18 schools in the CES Family of Schools.
1971 Samitsi Friends SS and Sidikho Friends SS established. Both are associated with CES Kenya.
1981 In 1981, a Presidential Working Party recommended that the 7–4–2–3 system be changed to an 8–4–4 system (eight years in primary, four years in secondary, and four years in university education). The committee was led by Canadian professor Colin B. Mackay and the rest were Kenyans of quality and renown.
1985 The current 8–4–4 system was launched in January 1985. It put more emphasis on vocational subjects on the assumption that the new structure would enable school dropouts at all levels either to be self-employed or to secure employment in the informal sector.
The school year at both primary and secondary levels begins in January and ends in November. Pupils get 3 school holidays in April, August and December. Pupils who fail their end of year exams usually repeat the class the following year instead of advancing to a higher grade.
1986 HIV first identified in 1984 in Kenya began to spread and the National AIDS Committee was established. By 1994 prevalence peaked in Western Province where in some areas the incidence of Aids had risen to an unprecedented 35% of the population. HIV/Aids has had a devastating impact on the Kenyan education system.
HIV/AIDS erodes the educated workforce, and makes retention and recruitment of trained teachers an increasing, and costly, challenge. Teachers are often absent due to their own illness, the need to care for family members, or to attend funerals. HIV/AIDS drains the teacher supply, impacts the quality of teaching, weakens access to higher learning, and increases costs within an already struggling sector.
1993 African Canadian Continuing Education Society established. Based in Vancouver B.C., it provides Kenyans with access to education. Since 1993 ACCES has sponsored over 1,500 Kenyans to study in Kenyan universities and colleges. In addition, ACCES has set up 9 primary schools for over 1,200 children. It has helped reach thousands of Kenyans with information about HIV/Aids and continues to build small business and micro-enterprise programs.
2003 In January 2003, the Kenyan government announced the introduction of free primary education. This put vast numbers of additional pupils into the educational system overnight, putting it on a steep learning curve encumbered by overpopulated classrooms.
A dearth of teachers, scarcity of textbooks and inadequate facilities were amongst the problems that made for a bumpy ride as primary schools went from educating about six million children in 2002 to the current total of eight million.
Since 2003, primary school enrollment has increased by nearly 3 million pupils (a 46% increase), while the number of schools grew by 7,000 (a 38% increase). Close to one million children still remain out of primary school. And only one in four youth of official secondary-school age are enrolled in secondary school.
NB: Most primary schools don’t get sufficient funding to pay for the teachers they need or for stationery, books etc, and so many have to look to parents and/or charities to help.
2004 CES Kenya was founded by local business, government, education and other community leaders who decided to do something to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic. On special assignment to Kenya to work in schools in the North East Province of Kenya, Canadian educator Michael Frederiksen traveled to Western Province to assist the CES Kenya Board in designing a constitution and mission defined as Project PREPARE (Project to Reduce Poverty and Provide Access to Rural Education).
Based in Kakamega in Kenya’s Western Province, CES Kenya is committed to selecting and supporting bright Kenyan students who have lost their parents due to HIV/AIDS and who lack the resources to continue their education.
In the fall of 2004 CES Canada was established as a not for profit Canadian NGO. A strong partnership with CES Kenya supports bright Kenyan students who had been orphaned by the HIV/Aids pandemic. Its goal was to provide education scholarships and other support services for youth living in the rural area surrounding Kakamega Western Province.
2007 Kenyans were promised free secondary education during national elections. There were 1.2 million children in Kenya’s high school system. Some 400,000 students had entered secondary school in 2007 – about 60 percent of those who sat the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education. With universal secondary education there was a huge concern that secondary education enrollments would double.
According to some estimates, at least 4,000 new classrooms, the equivalent of 250 schools, were needed to accommodate the 1.4 million pupils expected in public secondary schools during 2008.
NB: The government pays 10, 265 KSh per pupil ($140Cdn) while the actual costs are two to five times that amount.
MMUST Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology became a fully accredited public university in 2007. Prior to being elevated to full university status, it was known as Western University College of Science and Technology.
2009 An estimated 1.5 million people are living with HIV; 1.2 million children are orphaned by AIDS; and in 2009 80,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses. Prevalence rates have been dramatically reduced to a national average of 6.3%. School systems continue to struggle with a shortage of teachers and inadequate facilities.
2011 Kenya currently has 4,478 public high schools, many of which are in a state of disrepair and lack essential facilities. The average teacher-pupil ratio in Kenya’s secondary schools stand at one to 45.
Particularly in the rural areas, there are countless children and youth who have been orphaned by the HIV/Aids pandemic and are too poor to even pay for a school uniform. Marginalized by a system that cannot accommodate them, their chief goal is to find a way to survive each day. Poverty continues to create challenges for youth. Limited access to education often leads to crime , drug abuse and child labour.
Parents who can afford to do so send their children to private school. Recent exam results have brought to light the imbalances between public and private schools. Without an adequate supply of teachers and facilities, public schools will continue to fall behind the private school system.
2012 Despite the issues surrounding public education in Kenya, CES Canada continues advocate for a strong public school system. CES Canada is committed to the support of 18 public secondary schools in the Lurambi area of Kakamega, Western Province. An additional 10 secondary schools throughout six provinces now makes CES Canada a national NGO reaching out to 160 orphaned youth and impacting on some 6,000 students in 28 secondary schools.
