School-based technology in Kenya: the noble dream

Advancement in technology has dramatically revolutionized ways in which information is collected, analyzed, transmitted, and stored. This has made information technology (IT) a vital component within fields that rely heavily on databases such as banking, trade, agriculture, television, engineering, medicine, and research.

The practical nature of IT as a discipline reflects the skills companies and organizations will continue to look for as they recruit their workforce during this century. Currently, the rapid growth in the sector has left many employers unable to adequately satisfy their demand for skilled personnel. Many are desperate to retain their qualified staff by offering them attractive remuneration packages. With this significant growth in IT, countries have been forced to reexamine their educational policies, aims, and objectives with the view to incorporating IT into educational planning and development.

It is a fact that there is dramatic global change taking place in technology, which is likely to cause tipple effects on economic development. This has been recognized by the Kenya government, which also sees schools as having a central role to play in equipping its youth with the skills needed to fit in the current job market. These skills will enable them to efficiently receive and transmit information in form of words, numbers, images, and sound.

Educators and curriculum planners have been compelled to go back to the drawing board to reexamine the national goals and objectives of education. This will ensure that the products of the system are adequately prepared for the challenges that await them in the world of work, both within and outside Kenya. The government is also keen to ensure that Kenyans keep abreast of changes taking place in the world to guarantee that the country remains an integral part of the global economy. However, the greatest challenge facing the country at the moment is how to prepare its young people to become literate and able to fit in a society where information technology is fast changing and quickly replacing other forms of media.

Kenya Today and Yesterday

How then will this noble dream be realized? One needs to understand the diverse nature of the country to fully comprehend the magnitude of the task ahead. Kenya is a small country whose total area is about 581,677 square kilometers with, according to the 1999 census, a total population of 28,686,607. This gives it a population density of about 49 persons per square kilometer. In view of the fact that only one-third of the country receives adequate and reliable rainfall and is suitable for food production, this figure is very high. Environmental degradation, therefore, is prevalent in the few settled areas, with pressure groups constantly cautioning about the adverse ecological effects of this high population pressure on the land. This is likely to eventually have a negative impact on any meaningful sustainable development in the affected areas.

Kenya's climate varies from semiarid in the northern part to the high rainfall areas in the central, western, and coastal regions. This variety in climate, coupled with high rates of rural-to-urban migration and urbanization, has given rise to diverse cultural settings in the country, each with its own unique development requirements and problems.

An examination of Kenya's historical background also helps to shed more light on the magnitude of the arduous task facing the country as it attempts to incorporate IT into the school curriculum.

At independence in 1963, the country inherited a centralized system of education from Britain. In this system, a lot of emphasis was placed on examinations, which were done at the end of each cycle of education. Poor performance in these examinations prohibited progression to the next level of education at a time when education guaranteed a good job and better life. The main focus for the teacher in this system, therefore, was to ensure adequate syllabus coverage rather than to experiment with modern innovations in education. Little emphasis was put on inquiry as an instructional strategy. This tendency has continued to influence educational practices in the country today.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) was charged with the responsibility of running and managing educational affairs of the newly independent state. This ministry ensures that the quality of education is standardized across the country. One of MOE's key departments is the Kenya Institute of Education (KIE), which is a center for research and curriculum development. It is here that the national curriculum and support materials for all the subjects are developed. KIE also has an Educational Media Services Department responsible for developing media-related materials to support the curriculum. It has a recording studio that produces programs for use in schools across the country. The Inspectorate arm of the MOE is responsible for disseminating materials and ensuring that they are properly used. It also ensures that instructional strategies used are appropriate to the different educational levels. It organizes in-service training for practicing teachers as well as approves the textbooks to be used in Kenyan schools. The MOE is also responsible for the assessment of the curriculum through the Kenya National Examinations Council, which centrally sets and marks the major examinations in the country.

Educational Challenges

The foregoing analysis of the historical and physical set-up of Kenya provides the background to the key challenges facing the country as it attempts to incorporate IT into its public school system. The biggest limitation to the use of technology in Kenya is poor infrastructure. Provision of telephone facilities still remains far below the current demand. Many of the lines that exist are either out of date or dysfunctional, interrupting connections to the information superhighway. The use of electricity is limited mainly to urban centers. Therefore, few rural schools are able to incorporate the use of computers, TVs, and VCRs in the learning process. This leaves the radio as the most widespread form of technology used in schools across the country.

At independence, KIE was charged with the responsibility of preparing and airing radio programs for all subjects to supplement existing learning resources. The timetable for these programs was worked out in advance and sent to all schools and teachers, who were then required to plan their lessons to coincide with these air times. These programs were very popular, although they had serious setbacks. First, the schools needed to buy dry batteries, which in some cases they could not afford. Second, some parts of the country had very poor reception especially during the rainy months, rendering the use of the programs impossible. Perhaps the main criticism of these programs was the fact that they were not interactive. Furthermore, some of the content presented was not very challenging, especially for the brighter learners. Despite these problems, in many instances this support service was regarded as being invaluable because it served to provide some kind of variety in the manner in which subject content was delivered. Unfortunately, however, these programs were phased out about 10 years ago because of the government's inability to pay for the needed airtime. This has dealt a great blow to many students for whom these programs were the only form of technology they were exposed to.

In urban centers where technology is used with relative ease today, there is another setback. During the dry months the water levels in the hydroelectric power-generating plants, which produce the bulk of Kenya's energy, usually fall very low, causing a shortfall in energy production. Power-rationing programs are then put in place, and this limits accessibility to the use of technology.

Kenya's government has the responsibility of providing education to all its citizens. However, it is faced with two tough challenges relating to relevance and financing of education. It hopes that through provision of relevant education, it can produce the badly needed employable workforce. Unfortunately, it does not have adequately trained personnel to make this dream a reality across the educational spectrum. At the primary level, the problem is even bigger: there is inadequate emphasis on practical skills altogether in the curriculum. Besides, there are no resources available to in-service teachers in order for them to cope with these new demands.

To help finance education in the country, in 1988 the government adopted the policy of cost sharing in the sector. The costs were to be shared among the three main stakeholders in education: the government, parents, and the communities. This was done through the establishment of strong Parents and Teachers Associations as well as Boards of Governors. However, this hasn't solved the problem of the inability to meet the high cost of education in the country. Currently, 57 percent of public expenditure goes toward primary education while 16.2 percent goes toward secondary education. This amount is not adequate and cannot pay for equipment for technical subjects as well as IT. Moreover, the bulk of government subsidies are in the form of teachers' salaries, leaving no money for development expenditure. Consequently, high school fees are levied on students, many of whom are from poor families and are unable to pay these fees as well as pay for books and equipment. This has led to poor quality education in areas where parents are predominately poor and are, therefore, not in a position to contribute meaningfully toward expenditure in education. In such areas, technological advancement lags behind because the money set aside for improving or acquiring equipment is very little--this is one of the main causes of high dropout rates in Kenyan schools today.

Who We Are

Closely examining Kenya's population helps to explain why most parents cannot meaningfully contribute toward technology in education. The population can be classified into two main categories: urban and rural. The urban population is comprised of the urban poor who dwell mainly in the slums, the middle working class, and the affluent upper-class population found living mainly in the suburbs. According to the 1999 census, Kenya's urban population stands at 35 percent; of these, 29.3 percent are poor. In rural areas, 46.4 percent of the population lives below poverty line (source: Development Plan 1997-2001). The majority of Kenya's population therefore is rural, made up of poor peasants tilling small plots of land for subsistence. The yields per acre on these plots are low, often leaving no surplus for sale. Their basic needs are therefore not adequately met. Transnational corporations, state agencies, and private companies own the large cash-crop plantations and have their head offices located in the capital city of Nairobi. For the country to make any meaningful progress in technological advancement, care must be taken to ensure that the special needs of each sector of population are adequately met.

Because Kenya is basically an agricultural economy with nearly half of its population living below poverty line, economic growth in the past 15 years has been very limited, while population growth in contrast has been very rapid. These two factors have precipitated into high unemployment rates and an increase in poverty levels. Poverty in the country manifests itself in form of hunger, illiteracy, poor shelter, lack of access to basic education and drinking water, and minimum health facilities. The situation is made worse by the fact that Kenya, like most developing countries, depends heavily on external borrowing to finance some of her recurrent expenditure. This credit facility has been withheld for more than seven years now, leaving most people to depend on meager income from labor, either on their own land or from self-employment in the informal sector. In many cases, this income is not enough to provide for the basic needs of these workers and their families. How then can these impoverished people be expected to contribute toward the financing of technological advancement in the education sector?

Progress and Limitations

Grim as the picture may appear to be, Kenya has made some remarkable progress in technological advancement, especially in private and high-cost public schools in and around the key towns. If, for example, one visited the International School of Kenya, or Braeburn High School, in Nairobi, where I teach, one would see that the use of technology is not different from that in other private schools in Britain or the United States. Braeburn is a high-cost private school whose student population is largely drawn from Kenya and the international community working in the Eastern African Region. It follows the British National Curriculum and prepares students for universities abroad. While here, one quickly realizes that IT is the fastest growing department in the school, enjoying a bigger budget because of the high cost of IT equipment.

The school's management has realized the need to expose students to the use of information technology as early as possible in order to prepare them for the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) society of the 21st century. ICT is also integrated in the teaching of other subjects and is made compulsory at lower levels in Years 8 and 9. Many students take it as an option subject in Year 10. Technology is a crucial part of research during project work in science-based subjects and it brings home firsthand information on natural disasters such as tropical hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions, giving the learners an opportunity to perceive the dramatic effects of such phenomena. The school has a Web site, and almost all the students have email addresses for ease of communication.

Braeburn ensures that staff members are adequately equipped to incorporate IT into their areas of specialization. This is achieved through regular insets organized by the IT department.

A look at Starehe Boys Centre, a public school in Nairobi, helps to illustrate the setbacks experienced in the use of technology. This is an institution started as a rescue center for street boys. Its management was later taken over by the government, and today it is the nation's leading center for excellence in education. It has a total enrollment of more than 1,000 students and features a well-established computer institute that offers computer training to students after they complete their high school education. The introduction and use of technology has been largely due to financial support from sponsors in Kenya and overseas. Starehe is also lucky because it is situated in Nairobi where infrastructure and electricity exist. High school students at the Centre have access to the Internet and are able to send email messages to their friends around the world, and the school has a Web site.

Technology at this school, however, is not fully integrated into the learning process because the curriculum is heavily loaded and teachers are ill prepared to handle IT--related content. The school has only one TV and VCR, which are used in the learning process, and the amount of time spent by students watching programs for entertainment is limited. Every teacher's main aim in Starehe, like everywhere else in the country, is to ensure that the curriculum content is adequately covered before examination time. Besides, large class sizes (40 to 50 students on average), poor terms and conditions, and low pay leave most teachers overworked and without motivation.

The use of technology at Starehe has many other challenges. Electricity tariffs in the country are very high, and to leave computers running for long periods of time is likely to overburden the already tight budget lines for a school that basically runs on charity. Because of the size of the student population, and the inadequate number of computers, the use of the facility is strictly controlled.

Nyawara Girls High School in Nyanza province of Western Kenya is a small school with an enrollment of about 200 drawn mainly from poor rural families. This school is representative of the institutions in the country that have no exposure to educational technology. The physical facilities are very basic. In fact, the school has no library. Letters and other forms of correspondence are typed on a manual typewriter, while teachers handwrite most of their worksheets. There is no photocopier, and many students have never watched a TV program or seen a computer. Textbooks are often shared among five students. A school like this, if lucky, may benefit from donations of used books and magazines from a school like Braeburn. In many cases, it is even difficult for the schools to meet the cost of transporting the donated materials.

The poorest schools in Kenya are found in the semiarid areas occupied by the nomadic communities like the Maasai, Samburu, Turkana, and Somali. Here the school concept is different from what we perceive it to be. These schools move with the communities as they look for pasture for their livestock. The mobile school mainly consists of a wooden chest full of basic books transported on a camel's back with one or two teachers accompanying it. In this region, the school has no structures, no furniture, and sometimes no shade in which to conduct the lessons. Learning is largely informal and only takes place after the routine chores for the day have been accomplished and the hot sun has gone down. The students' homes are temporary and have no electricity. It is this section of Kenya's population for which technology is likely to remain an everlasting evasive dream ... a dream that may never be realized, even in their lifetime. The needs of these people are few and basic--and technology is not one of them.

Abigail Sanya is a geography teacher at Braeburn High School in Nairobi, Kenya, where she is also the Careers and Options Coordinator and Community Awareness Coordinator. Before moving to Braeburn, she worked at the Kenya Institute of Education as a curriculum specialist in charge of geography.

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