SAM’S SENSE: Education- Cry Kilifi County

This week in the ongoing series of Elimu Mashinani, Citizen TV hosted Ministry of Education officials and education stakeholders from Kilifi County.

This was a moment to face the reality on the ground, 62 years since independence. The reality is that 72 per cent of KCSE candidates of the year 2024 scored a D plus and below, a record 10 per cent posting grade E, way higher than anywhere else in the country.

Only 10 per cent of the class qualified to join universities, falling way below the national average of 25 per cent. It is shocking to find that out of 10 children who join Class One, only one would have the possibility of progressing to the highest level of education as long as they school in Kilifi.

It is worse when you interpret the data. In every 10 learners who attend school in Kilifi, more than seven face the unenviable possibility that they cannot directly progress their education to a reasonable skill-based academic programme, simply because they are likely to score a D plus and below, unless circumstances change. Even then, enrolment in vocational training and TVET institutions in Kilifi is so low that there is little evidence that KCSE graduates who score below C minus proceed to those institutions.

And then comes the reality: the myriad challenges that threaten the possibility of success in Kilifi’s schools. From cultural practices to weather conditions, economic hurdles to the situation in schools, attitudes towards education, the world of work and more.

The unfortunate reality is that out of the 655 junior schools in Kilifi, there is a teachers’ shortage of 62 per cent. That may sound like just a number. Let’s break it down. If there are nine learning areas in a Kilifi junior school, at least five subjects are not covered by TSC-hired teachers.

Meaning, should the school not find a way to have the learning areas taught, the children of Kilifi are grossly disadvantaged as they seek their path to the national stage.

During that session on Tuesday night, Agnes, a Grade Nine student in one of the schools in Kilifi, posed a question to the Education Cabinet Secretary. She shared how, in her nine years of schooling, she is yet to see a science laboratory in her institution. She wondered how, after three years of junior school, she is expected to transition to senior school, where she had hoped to pursue a science-based pathway. And yes, the answers from the panel were a long shot. In the end, Pwani University Vice Chancellor Prof. James Kahindi offered to facilitate Agnes for a visit and use of laboratories at the university.

Commendable. But then, how many more like Agnes are affected? How many have no access to a philanthropic university or institution?

At a time that data shows the fruits of our failure to invest in the most needy among us; at a time when numbers are showing limited effort in places like Kilifi; at a time qualitative data is telling us what challenges exist in the households, communities and towns of Kilifi — we must be the most inconsiderate generation to ignore.

How are places like Kilifi expected to compete not just at the national level but also globally? If 62 years of independence should mean anything, it’s time our decisions are guided by data, information and deep thought. Blanket employment of teachers may be good because it creates jobs. However, when such interventions are not responsive to the contextual realities as explained by Agnes, the parents and the teachers of Kilifi, we will be shooting in the dark in broad daylight. And that doesn’t sound sensible at all.