Author Reference
Lango, B. (2016): “Go back to improve
the real 8-4-4 system instead of introducing a new 2-6-6-3 system”. Intel Fire Group of Companies Blog.
Nairobi, Kenya.
 |
| Pupils with their artistic creativity (Photo courtesy: upnairobi.com) |
Every Kenyan at the moment has been
made to believe that the 8-4-4 system they have had since 1985 is the worst
thing that ever happened to them. And if your one you would also believe the
same and especially with the integrity and incompetency experienced in various
institutions in Kenya by the so called experts. The bureaucrats who are themselves
beneficiaries of the 8-4-4 system have now come up with a new proposal of two
years in pre-school, six years in primary school, 6 years in secondary school
and three years in university giving a 2-6-6-3 system. This system, according
to reports is expected to cost a whooping Shs.340 billion per year to implement
(Daily Nation Online, 28 March 2012). Coupled with the current inadequacies in
funding in the education sector this will not only be a nightmare but a
miracle.
As clearly put by one popular blog
spot, the remedy of the 8-4-4 system is not in 2-6-6-3 but in itself. The taskforce
in 2012 brought the same criterion to a conference at the same venue of KICC
and teachers union who were not seeing eye-to-eye rejected the proposals. The
question is since 2012 what has changed? May be now we have 8-4-4 in 2-6-6-3 or
have managed to convince both the parties concerned that the initial proposals
were as good as they were in 2012. When the 8-4-4 system was first introduced
in Kenya in 1985 it was the best system ever and covered all the aspects of
life skills and career development. The system introduced technical skills
subjects like art and craft, woodwork, physical education, technical drawing,
music and many more. These subjects were taken with a lot of seriousness and
their perfection were enhanced through participation in school drama competitions,
annual schools science congress, schools term ball games, schools terms
athletics and many more were incorporated in this system to capture the unique
skills of various learners at various stages.
Fast forward to 2015 and the 8-4-4
has completely been eroded and is a pale shadow of its former self and with the
many misdemeanors in societal skills and moral stands with respect to
absorption at the job market the system is now considered obsolete. One would
believe so considering its erosion to focus on examinations and the school
ranking and the teachers being transformed into student coaches with the main
objective of passing exams. The institutions charged with the custody of the
system have also contributed to its erosion and especially by scrapping
important subjects like home-science, art & craft, music and many more
talent based subjects that were captured by these subjects. Physical education
and co-curricular activities have also been taken aback by this erosion as they
are no longer requirements. If you attended school in early 90s’ and your
memory serves you right then co-curricular activities was a must for all
students and it contributed to your overall performance.
This is not to say that there is no
need for a new system but rather to critique the report of the task force on
educational reforms to look at revamping 8-4-4 system rather than come up with
a completely new system that borrows heavily from the west and possibly does
not take into consideration the unique nature of African and specifically the
Kenyan environment in terms of its population per capita. CORRECTING A SYSTEM IS NOT ALWAYS
IN ITS OVERHAUL BUT ALSO IN ITS REMEDIAL MEASURES.
The writer is a PhD Generalist in
Public Safety Service Delivery
No comments:
Post a Comment