The admission by Education Secretary Jacob
Kaimenyi that at least 200,000 KCPE candidates last year will not
proceed to secondary schools is a damning indictment of the country’s
atrophied education system.
This is a very high number
of youths to spew out of the system at a tender age, and it makes
nonsense of the much-vaunted free education programme, which was
supposed to give every child a chance to acquire an education.
If
this happens every year for the next 10 years, we are talking about two
million uneducated, unemployed and unemployable Kenyans roaming the
streets of our cities, a very frightening idea.
It is
true that not all primary school candidates can pass their exams with
flying colours. But to speculate that those who do not get places in
secondary school will be absorbed by village polytechnics is wishful
thinking.
How many such polytechnics exist today? How well are they funded and managed?
Let
us stop deluding ourselves that the answers to these questions are
within reach. Unless we revolutionise the direction of our education
policy, we are looking at a situation where the majority of Kenyans may
have to turn to crime to survive.
No comments :
Post a Comment