I think one of the best educationists that never was is Mzee Kimani Maruge, who at the advanced age of 75 years, defied all odds and joined 7 year old children to start his primary school education, with a clear mind to enable him learn to read the Bible for himself and be able to keep records of his possessions. How he would have applied the knowledge gained from the education he was getting, is a matter of conjecture, because he died before he could complete his studies. Unlike Mzee Kimani Maruge, who clearly identified his needs for education, our education mandarins together with the past Education Commissions have been unable to offer us an education system that clearly meets our needs so as to solve our daily problems in this country. We inherited a colonial system of education that was meant to prepare the African to work as a servant to meet the needs of the white master and not vice versa. Unwittingly, even with the likes of Ominde, Gachathi, Kamunge, Mackay and Koech Commissions, we have not got to the root of the problem to enable us to come up with an education system that meets the needs of the citizens to serve the country better. We started by looking at education as a means to a career and not one to help us also think how to tame the environment we live in and hence lessen our problems. This is the catch.
A good education system should free our minds from any existing or acquired mental shunts so that we can think freely and clearly to solve existing and any new problems. Education as given by the colonialist was a form of bondage to make us subservient, vulnerable and insecure. Without the total freedom to learn, acquire and apply new knowledge and skills one is reduced to an automaton that could easily be replaced by a robot. Isn't this what we now see around our country? With the proliferation of universities, thousands of Kenyans are spending time and money in search of degrees so that they could enhance their career opportunities to earn better pay. Look at the thousands of primary school teachers who are enrolling to acquire those degrees, never mind their applicability. They are likely to continue to tell the children under them that education is important because after their graduation, may be they managed to get pay hikes and perhaps buy a car. Whereas there is nothing very wrong about that, however, the child will grow with the only knowledge that with higher education, he could as well buy a car. What will stop him take short cuts other than toil day and night if he could carry a few pellets of cocaine in his gut and buy a plane instead? So the question is how do we redeem ourselves and get out of the present mire?
Education, particularly at primary and secondary level should not only be free but compulsory so that people at an early age may learn and internalize their roles and responsibilities in society and the environment. In order for this to happen, new learning materials have to be availed, instruction books rewritten, teachers retrained and above all , everybody has to be made consciously aware that the education they receive is for their benefit, country, humanity so that they may live in harmony with their physical environment. It has to be a classless type of education that provides equal opportunities for the rich and poor; the rural and urban because it's state sponsored. Eventually, once people complete their education, they will have clear roles and responsibilities regardless of the careers they pursue so as to make the necessary contributions for the enjoyment of all. Therefore, it's important to retool our education system so that we may be able to apply the knowledge gained thereof to solve our daily problems because without that we shall continue to suffer and may be perish altogether. That is perhaps, the missing link in our present education system that has proven to be our Achilles' heel in the fight against corruption, poor governance, injustice, poverty, tribalism, etc.
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