Education in Kenya

What does the data tell us about Kenyan’s education system in 2014? It is readily apparent that the ratio of boys to girls attending school is generally weighted slightly higher toward boys. Furthermore, the data consistently shows that school attendance from first grade through eighth grade drops dramatically across all counties. For example, Turkana County in northwestern Kenya shows the attendance of 22,406 girls and 26,444 boys in first grade, but only 3,175 girls and 5,031 boys in eighth grade—which is a difference of 86% for girls and 81% for boys. Though each grade level in the 2014 snapshot belongs to different cohorts, following the data from one cohort from first through eighth-grade results in a similar pattern.

Compared to European or East Asian standards, Kenya’s education system lags far behind in quality and outcome. However, in 2017, the World Economic Forum (WEF) ranked Kenya the highest in Africa for overall quality of education. The WEF’s Human Capital Index is a metric that attempts to quantify the level at which countries optimise the workforce by taking into account parameters such as education, age, available work, etc. The WEF ranked Africa at 55% compared to the global average of 65%—with Kenya rated within the top 10 Sub-Saharan countries at a rate of 57.8%. The WEF ranked Kenya 102 out of the 130 countries worldwide.

Why link education to the WEF’s Human Capital Index? We’ll explore this connection further, but first, let’s look at the opening paragraph of an article published in Medium titled “How Kenya Became the Strongest Education System in Africa” below:

“In 2017, the World Economic Forum rated Kenya’s education system as the strongest on the African continent. In 2018, the World Bank ranked Kenya the top African country for education outcomes (1st out of 43 mainland countries). In 2019, a Kenyan was named the most outstanding teacher in the world and awarded a prestigious $1 million prize.”

Sounds fantastic, right? The article goes into further detail, expanding these ideas. However, getting the perspective of someone other than a Western Journalist brings a different perspective.

Jonathan Mburugu is from Kenya and is the founder of SchoolForAfrica.org. His experiences and struggles, first as a student and later as a teacher and advocate for Kenyan schoolchildren, paints a much different picture. He describes the issues of national-level economic conditions and individual financial limitations as the major contributing factors facing the education system in Kenya. In particular, Mburugu explains that even though primary school education in Kenya is both compulsory and free, the government only pays for tuition—other expenses such as books and food are not covered. Furthermore, challenges in Kenya’s education system extend into secondary and beyond.

The individual effort and hard work of Jonathan Mburugu brought him to where he is today. He continues to advocate for Kenya’s schoolchildren and hopes to further expand his educational initiatives to neighbouring African countries. Mburugu is right by highlighting financial issues as the cause of many of Kenya’s educational woes. Mburugu’s approach to solving these issues is also correct—that African problems must be solved from within Africa itself.

Clearly, Mburugu is an intelligent, hard-working, and motivated individual, and a man of his calibre is often well-positioned to relocate to ‘greener pastures’ in Europe or the United States. Educated Africans, especially those that have studied abroad, often do not return to their home countries as it is easier to attain a better life by living as expatriates. The ramifications this so-called “brain drain” has on African countries is that they lose their best and brightest individuals which causes compounding disadvantages in economic, scientific, and social development. This phenomenon has been studied in-depth at various organisations such as the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. and Africa's Mo Ibrahim Foundation. These two organisations, as well as many others, agree on the best course of action: Africa needs to not only curb but also reverse the migration and brain drain in order to strive toward a more prosperous future. At a G7 Summit in 2017, Akinwumi A. Adesina, President of the African Development Bank, summed it up best:

“Even insects migrate from where it is dark to where there is light. No wonder Africa’s youth – our assets – take huge risks migrating to Europe, looking for a better life. The future of Africa’s youth does not lie in migration to Europe; it should not be at the bottom of the Mediterranean; it lies in a prosperous Africa. We must create greater economic opportunities for our youth right at home in Africa.”