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Education rights
Despite the free primary education policy introduced by the government
in 2003 there is a substantial number of children who would otherwise have
benefited from the policy but are still not enrolled in the school system. The
enrolment of 6 to 13 years old improved from 87 percent in 1998 to 94 percent
in 2009
Among the strong determinants of whether a child in Kenya
will enroll or fail to enroll in school includes the place of residents, family
income and gender. Children from rural households, also children from poor
families are much more likely to be out of school than children from rich families.
Millennium Development Goal number 2 set universal primary
education as a key target for all nations by 2015 and in Kenya , free primary
education was identified as crucial to attaining that goal.
According to UNESCO (
)on the report 2012 “ it was observed that one million children in Kenya
were still out of school with just two years to the deadline set to realize
universal primary education by 2015. Kenya was ranked the ninth highest nation
in the world in terms of out-of-school children.
Since independence the Kenyan education sector has experienced
rapid expansion where an increase in the number of public and private schools
and in the enrolment has been noted. Primary schools increased from 6,058 in
1963 to 27,487 in 2010 while secondary schools increased from 151 in 1963 to
7,308 in 2010.
Enrolment in primary schools grew from 892,000 pupils in
1963 up to about 9.4 million pupils in 2010 and in secondary schools, enrolment
rose from 30,000 students in 1963 reaching 1.7 million in 2010.This in the part
attributable to the rapid population growth and part to the introduction of the
free primary education (FPE) and free day secondary Education (FDSE) in 2003
and 2008 respectively. Enrolment at the
university level also increased from 82,090 students in 2003 to 180,617
students in 2010 and at the TIVET level, enrolment grew from 62,439 students in
2003 to 62,4 students in 2010.
According to (Taskforce 2012), the main challenges that the
Education sector is facing are issues of efficiency, relevance, quality, equity
and access. Reforms geared towards the attainment of education related
Millennium Development Goals (MDGS) and education for all (EFA) were considered
by the ministry of Education in 2003 and consequently, be sessional paper
number 1 of 20005 was development of the education sector. The sessional paper
outlined sector target which included among others attainment of universal
primary. Education (UPE) by 2005 and Education for all (EPA) by 2015. The
specific targets that were set out included:
a)
Net Enrolment Rate (NET) of 100% at primary
schools by 2015
b)
100% completion rate by 2010
c)
70% transition rate from primary to secondary
school level by 2008
d)
50% NER in early childhood Development Education
by 2010
e)
Gender parity at primary and secondary by 2015
According to
the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER)
at primary level was 91.2% in 1999 which rose steadily to reach 109.9% in1999
to 91.6% in 2007 then to 92.5% in 2008 and further to 92.9% in 2009 but dipped
slightly in 2010 to 91.4%. GER for
secondary school increased from 27.3% in 1999 to 47.8% in 2010.while the NER
recorded an increase from 28.9% in 2008 to 35.8% in 2010 having progressively
improved from 13.7% in 1999.
(Taskforce 2012) observed that in spite of the progress that
has been made towards the realization of universal primary Education (UPE) and
increasing access across the education sector, the major challenge especially
at the primary level is the retention of learners. It further observed that
quality of education offered is another hurdle in the sector despite the high
budgetary allocation especially following the launch of FPE and FDSE. The challenges in highlighted by the
Taskforce were:
i.
High number of children out of school mainly due
to a range of users’ charges levied.
ii.
High level of unaccounted teacher absenteeism
iii.
Scarcity of financial resources
The Kenya’s government commitment
to the prevision of quality education and training to her citizens at all
levels cannot be overemphasized. Education and training has been singled out as
the means through which Kenya will attain its vision 2030 of becoming a middle
income economy. In addition, and compulsory basic education as a human right to
every child
According to the constitution of
Kenya (2010) every child has a right to free and compulsory basic education.
During the millennium summit of the United Nations in 2000,
all the 189 United Nations member state and at least 23 International
organizations adopted the United Nations Millennium Declaration which had
either goals and committed to help achieve them by the year 2015. The second
MDG was to achieve universal primary education. Its target
Being that by 2015 all children can complete a full course
of primary school and the indicators would be the enrolment in secondary
education and the completion of secondary education.
According to Education for all Global Monitoring Report
(2012) Kenya’s progress towards the size education for all goals showed that in
spite of the fact that Kenya had registered progress there were many children
that were still out of school, primary education was not of sufficient quality
to ensure acquisition of the basic.
Although significant progress towards achieving universal
primary education has been made out of school children remain a massive global
problem. According to UNESCO estimates, there are at least 57 million out of
school children of primary school age in the world in 2011 (UIS 2013). In
sub-Saharan Africa, the number of out of school children rose between 2008 and
2011 from 29.0 million. There is also notable concentration of this category of
children within demographic groups, in 2010; over 53% of children who were not
enrolled in school were female. Children from poor families are overwhelmingly
over presented in out of school children population because the private cost of
attending school to the poor are prohibitive. Household surveys have steps to
address this problem by abolishing school fees and a result; increase in
enrolment has been witnessed. However, apart from school fees there are other
expenses such as school uniforms, transport cost tutoring books and supplies
that richer families are better equipped to defray.
Furthermore, attending school imposes an opportunity cost
which to the poor families is burdensome; hence they are in dilemma as to
whether to enroll their children in school or to make them work. Therefore both
the direct and the indirect cost of education quite often lead parents at the
lower end of income distribution to home or in the labour market (GMR 2012)
Primary education is not only a basic human right but also a
powerful instrument for generating benefits to the individual, their families
and the society in which they live and also to future generation.
UNESCO institute of statics (2013) schooling for millions of
children jeopardized by reduction in Aid ‘UIS fact sheet June 2013
World Bank (2009) Abolishing school fees in Africa: Lessons
from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and Mozambique World Bank
Milan T and Burnet N (2013): exclusions from Education: The
economic cost of out of school children in 20 countries EAC
ILO (2013) Micro Factors Inhibiting Education Access,
Retention and completion by children from vulnerable communities in Kenya
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