The Education System in Africa has Failed the Youth
Loise Gichuhi holds a PhD in
Economics of Education from the University of Nairobi where she is currently a lecturer, a Master’s in Economics of Education and a Bachelor’s
degree in Mathematics and Economics from Kenyatta University. Her work is
situated in Africa mainly on Economics and planning of education. Her research interests include conflict, post-conflict and peace-building processes
and dynamics in Africa. Between 2012 and 2015, Loise was a member of International
Association of Universities (IAU) Reference Group on Higher Education for
education for All (EFA), EFA Priorities.
She is concerned with theory and practice and how programming within the
education sector can be informed by both national and international research
and policy. She consults in education. Her recent short consultancy is in
Research on Education, Inequality and Peace-building in Kenya. She was a
faculty member for the Humanitarian Leadership Program (Deakin University and
Save the Children).
Q1: What inspires your work? Education well
planned and formulated is the driver of development. Having come from a humble
background I am inspired by the transformative role of education. I am who I am
today because my parents took the expensive route of educating a girl.
Q2: Has the education system in Africa failed the African youth? Many African countries’ education agenda, especially those that were
colonized, started their education agenda with a major appetite for size and
quantitative expansion. Confidence in education was a major concern and
ambitious enrollment targets were set. Over time there has been major criticisms
and a feeling of disappointment in the role of education in the youth agenda. It
is evident that education does not operate in a vacuum; institutional
arrangements should always correspond to the wider societal and economic
framework which sets limits to planning and reform. Policy makers must realize
that quantitative planning has to go hand in hand with qualitative planning.
African education systems must guard against losing the vision for quality
relevant education that engages the youth either in job creation or employment
sector. Looking at educated unemployment numbers in Africa someone can be
tempted to say yes. The number of
unemployed youth rises every year.
Q3: How has technology impacted the education system? Technology has major benefits in an education system when well implemented
and utilized. As schools continue to be recognized and understood as providers of skilled and knowledgeable people for the workforce, there are fundamental
development reasons why technology is important. Technology allows teachers to
deliver more student /personalized content and lessons. Technology when well
utilized can enhance the student’s ability to do assignments and class work.
Both the teacher and the student must be exposed to the benefits of using
technology. However, there are situations where the students are well ahead of
the teachers and that is a challenge. Technology's effectiveness depends on
trained teachers. Mobile phone, the gadget with majority of the people
(students, parents, and the teachers), has great potential if well utilized
since it is cost effective compared to computers/ tablets that require an
expensive infrastructural development. Technology can also be misused
especially when it interferes with the education system’s goals and objectives.
When technology is used to propagate cheating in examination it should be
restricted.
Q4: How is an education system that is exam-oriented shaping the
youth? An exam - oriented education system is very
dangerous. Such a system equips the learners with minimal skills like recalling
and how-to-write-an-exam skills. An
education system should strive to equip its graduates with foundation,
transferable, technical and vocational skills. This will help to address
the mismatch between what the schools are producing and what employers and
citizens need. Critical thinking and awareness is fundamental in the world of
work and for survival. Education system should educate the youth to see their
interests and organize them to fight for their interests. The society/parents’
demand for good examination results must be considered with caution. Good
results are welcome but not in an environment of mutilating the curriculum,
cheating, and other malpractices.
Q5: How can we make quality education more accessible and affordable
for all children? Different stakeholders must come into
play to achieve quality education for all. There are many technical variables
that need to be tied together in order to make education more accessible and
affordable. A major variable is the political influence and willingness to lead
in the provision and implementing quality education for all. This can be
achieved by addressing the barriers; minimize punitive indirect costs that
affects access to schooling despite governments' free education strategies in
many African countries, supply of teachers, and provision of school
infrastructure to marginalized communities. Increasing the number of teachers
without proper training or no training at all will get more children into
school, but jeopardize education quality. Public-private partnerships should be
encouraged to meet financial gaps and reaching out to those regions that are
unreachable.
Q6: What challenges are current educationists facing and how can we
address them? There are a myriad of issues; lack of
motivation, quantitative expansion of education sector without a corresponding
number of trainers, slow reforms in education that often ignore the
implementers of the reforms. Poor planning; demand and supply of graduates
leads to many being unemployed which de-motivates the educator. Compensation
issues for teachers that take long to be addressed, lack of research funds and too rigid promotion policies especially in the universities.
Many of these issues can be addressed
from a short term and a long term perspective.
The bottom line is political willingness to improve the quality of
education and to improve the educator in more ways than monetizing the agenda.
Motivating the educator can be both monetary and non-monetary.
Q7: What challenges are learners facing and how can we address them? The challenges are innumerable and diverse. The biggest challenge is
maintaining access to quality relevant education for all. Governments have a
long-standing commitment to guaranteeing the right to education. However,
despite encouraging quantitative trends, quality remains an issue. Many
children do not complete primary level education and many are leaving school without
basic skills. The teacher – pupil ratio remains a challenge in many countries.
Intra-regional gaps take longer to be addressed. Infrastructure inequalities
perpetuate inequalities in achieving education.
To address these challenges, governments must
increase and prioritize education expenditure in national budgets. Governments must also set and rethink educational
targets that are specific, relevant and measurable. There is need to
contextualize curriculum to the society needs.
Affirmative action must be taken to reach the marginalized and
disadvantaged groups.
Q8: What needs to change in the current education systems in most African countries? The challenge for any education system is to leverage the rapid growth
in the labor force into higher economic growth performance. There is need to
increase productivity and skills development reform strategies. There is need
to rethink value-addition education reforms that bring out the full potential
of a learner. This will help the graduates to keep pace with increasingly
competitive labour markets. Inclusive education should be encouraged and
implemented. This must consider social, economic, political and cultural
factors that generate exclusion. Education stakeholders must develop an
intersectoral policy that addresses the causes of exclusion so that all
children are brought on board.
Q9: How can we nurture innovation within learning institutions? Critical thinking is a major factor in nurturing innovation. Students and teachers must be open to
dynamism of learning and teaching. Stakeholders must rethink curriculum and
redesign a more flexible, balanced and less-extensive curriculum with a provision
for diverse and cross-curricular activities. The teacher and the student and
other stakeholders must work collaboratively to develop curricular activities
across the board. The environment should be conducive to allow great
achievements. Both the learner and the teacher must be motivated to walk extra
miles through flexible and critical thinking arena.
Q10: Last words to the youth out there: In many developing countries there has been undeniable quantitative
growth in the number of educated youth. The labor market is growing at a slower
rate than the number of youths looking for jobs. In order to improve our lives we must remain
focused and flexible to the dynamism of the changing society. We must check on
non-traditional employment sectors and develop our skills and talents. Self
employment might be the immediate solution to many youths. This can be a
win-win situation if the government and donor organizations can create an
environment and provide seed money to the youth.
