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Abstract
Five decades after independence, the majority of Kenyan children do not receive quality education and live with limited economic and social opportunities. To this end, why have educational policies not worked as intended? I use Chabal and Daloz's (1999) framework to argue that good policies have not produced intended outcomes; instead, their implementations have delimited educational, social, and economic opportunities. Lackluster policy outcomes have perpetuated concentration of power and wealth, fostered weak public institutions, and destabilized citizenry while normalizing chaos.
Notes
1. Constitution of Kenya, chapter 4, 53(b), 37.
2. Republic of Kenya, Kenya Vision 2030.
3. Republic of Kenya, Ministry of Education: Strategic Plan 2008–2012; Republic of Kenya, A Policy Framework; Buchmann, “Family Structure, Parental Perceptions, and Child Labor in Kenya”; Institute of Policy Analysis and Research (IPAR), Radical Reform for Kenya's Education Sector. IPAR is a policy think-tank in Kenya.
4. Republic of Kenya, Kenya Vision 2030. Also Uwezo. “National: Annual Learning Assessment Report (Kenya),” a report on a four-year initiative that aims to study and find ways to improve literacy and numeracy among children in East African countries.
5. Onsomu et al., The SACMEQ II Project in Kenya, report by Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality.
6. Onsomu et al., The SACMEQ II Project in Kenya, report by Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality. Also see Achola and Pillai, Challenges of Primary Education in Developing Countries.
7. Uwezo, “National: Annual Learning Assessment Report (Kenya).”
8. Onsomu et al., The SACMEQ II Project in Kenya.
9. Republic of Kenya, First Medium Term Plan (2008–2012); Republic of Kenya, Sessional Paper No. 1 of 2005.
10. Chimombo, Classroom, School, and Home Factors.
11. Boadu, Gender Disparities in Education, Health, and Labor Force Participation.
12. Haddad and Demsky, The Dynamics of Policymaking, provides information on comparative analysis of policy outcomes.
13. Wasonga and Mwita, “Mitigating the Impact of Educational Policy in Rural Kenya.”
14. Republic of Kenya, Kenya Vision 2030.
15. Oketch and Somerset, Free Primary Education and after in Kenya; Mensch et al., “Primarital Sex, Schoolgirl Pregnancy, and School Quality in Kenya”; Buchmann, “Family Structure, Parental Perceptions, and Child Labor in Kenya.”
16. Kunje et al., “An Investigation of the Relationship”; Otieno et al., Gender Audit of Education Programs; International Monetary Fund, Kenya.
17. Buchmann, “Family Structure, Parental Perceptions, and Child Labor in Kenya”; see Knight and Sabot, Education, Productivity, and Inequality.
18. Cubbins, “Women, Men, and the Division of Power.” For more detailed information on social mobility see Buchman, “Family Structure, Parental Perceptions, and Child Labor in Kenya.”
19. Government policy documents. Includes all of policy documents published by Kenya government.
20. Oketch and Somerset, Free Primary Education and after in Kenya; Sawamura and Sifuna, “Universalizing Primary Education in Kenya.”
21. Haddad and Demsky, The Dynamics of Policymaking; Oketch and Somerset, Free Primary Education and after in Kenya.
22. Chabal and Daloz, Africa Works. In this book the authors report their findings from personal experiences with policy in African countries.
23. Chabal and Daloz, Africa Works. In this book the authors report their findings from personal experiences with policy in African countries, xvi.
24. Chabal and Daloz, Africa Works. In this book the authors report their findings from personal experiences with policy in African countries, xviii.
25. Chabal and Daloz, Africa Works. In this book the authors report their findings from personal experiences with policy in African countries, xviii.
26. Chabal and Daloz, Africa Works. In this book the authors report their findings from personal experiences with policy in African countries, xix.
27. Chabal and Daloz, Africa Works. In this book the authors report their findings from personal experiences with policy in African countries, xix.
28. Chabal and Daloz, Africa Works. In this book the authors report their findings from personal experiences with policy in African countries, 1.
29. Chabal and Daloz, Africa Works. In this book the authors report their findings from personal experiences with policy in African countries, 143.
30. Chabal and Daloz, Africa Works. In this book the authors report their findings from personal experiences with policy in African countries, 147.
31. Chabal and Daloz, Africa Works. In this book the authors report their findings from personal experiences with policy in African countries, 149.
32. Ward et al., “Why Do Education Policies in East Africa Fail?”
33. Ward et al., “Why Do Education Policies in East Africa Fail?”, 129.
34. Republic of Kenya, Sessional Paper No. 1of 2005.
35. Nooijer and Abagi, Final Evaluation of the UIC Partner Programme.
36. Marshall and Gerstl-Pepin, Re-framing Educational Politics for Social Justice.
37. Republic of Kenya, First Medium Term Plan (2008–2012).
38. Republic of Kenya, Sessional Paper No. 1 of 2005, iii.
39. Republic of Kenya, Kenya Education Sector Support Programme 2005–2010.
40. Republic of Kenya, Kenya Education Sector Support Programme 2005–2010, 87.
41. IPAR, Radical Reform for Kenya's Education Sector.
42. IPAR, Radical Reform for Kenya's Education Sector, 3.
43. Republic of Kenya, Early Childhood Development Service Standard Guidelines; Republic of Kenya, A Policy Framework.
44. Republic of Kenya, A Policy Framework.
45. Republic of Kenya, A Policy Framework.
46. Republic of Kenya, A Policy Framework.
47. Republic of Kenya, Ministry of Education: Strategic Plan 2008–2012.
48. Republic of Kenya, Ministry of Education: Strategic Plan 2008–2012.
49. See website http://www.education.go.ke/ShowPage.aspx?department=5&id=260.
50. Republic of Kenya, Ministry of Education: Strategic Plan 2008–2012.
51. Ministry of Education, Final Report on the Kenya Education Management Capacity Assessment (KEMACA).
52. IPAR, Radical Reform for Kenya's Education Sector.
53. Oketch and Rolleston, “Policies on Free Primary and Secondary Education in East Africa”; Ministry of Education, Final Report on the Kenya Education Management Capacity Assessment (KEMACA); IPAR, Radical Reform for Kenya's Education Sector; Republic of Kenya, Kenya Vision 2030.
54. De Souza and Wainaina, “Kenya's Three Initiatives in Universal Primary Education.”
55. Sawamura and Sifuna, “Universalizing Primary Education in Kenya.”
56. ISSPP (International Successful School Principals Project) brings together researchers from different parts of the world to study educational leadership in different contexts.
57. Gay et al., Educational Research; Merriam, Qualitative Research and Case Study Applications in Education.
58. Merriam, Qualitative Research and Case Study Applications in Education, 11.
59. Creswell, Educational Research, 205.
60. Based on information gathered from interviews with principals and corroborated with information from other respondents in the school community.
61. Information gathered from focus group discussion in Kisumu County.
62. Kisumu and Siaya counties were originally in Nyanza Province. See World Bank. “Kenya Poverty and Inequality Assessment.”
63. Kisumu and Siaya counties were originally in Nyanza Province. See World Bank. “Kenya Poverty and Inequality Assessment.”.
64. Uwezo, “National: Annual Learning Assessment Report (Kenya).”
65. Chabal and Daloz, Africa Works.
66. Muhula, “Horizontal Inequalities and Ethno-regional Politics in Kenya.”
67. Sunday Standard Team, “Kenya.”
68. Sifuna, “Increasing Access and Participation of Pastoralist Communities,” 511.
69. Sifuna, “Increasing Access and Participation of Pastoralist Communities,” 511.
70. Chege, “The Politics of Education in Kenyan Universities,” 63.
71. See Colcough and Webb, The Impact of Aid on Education Policy in Kenya; Amutabi, “Beyond Imperial Presidency in Kenya”; Chege,“The Politics of Education in Kenyan Universities”; Amutabi, “Political Interference in the Running of Education in Post Independent Kenya”; Ojiambo, “Quality of Education and its Role in National Development”; Sifuna, “The Challenge of Increasing Access and Improving Quality.”
72. Ward et al., “Why Do Education Policies in East Africa Fail?,” 139.
73. Colcough and Webb, The Impact of Aid on Education Policy in Kenya, 21.
74. Sifuna, “The Challenge of Increasing Access and Improving Quality,” 697.
75. Mwiria, “Kenya's Harambee Secondary School Movement,” 354.
76. Colcough and Webb, The Impact of Aid on Education Policy in Kenya.
77. Marete and Kitimo, “FPE Scandal Heat Turns on Heads.”
78. Muindi, “Treasury Refunds Stolen Donor Cash.”
79. Chabal and Daloz, Africa Works, 45.
80. Chabal and Daloz, Africa Works, 156.
81. Ward et al., “Why Do Education Policies in East Africa Fail?”
82. Woolman, “Educational Reconstruction and Post-colonial Curriculum Development,” 29.
83. Chege, “The Politics of Education in Kenyan Universities,” 62.
84. Chege, “The Politics of Education in Kenyan Universities,”, 65.
85. Chege, “The Politics of Education in Kenyan Universities,”, 66.
86. Ward et al., “Why Do Education Policies in East Africa Fail?”
87. McDonnell, “Repositioning Politics in Education's Circle of Knowledge.”
88. Marshall and Gerstl-Pepin, Re-framing Educational Politics for Social Justice.