Children who have aced their Kenya Certificate of Primary Examination (KCPE) but would not be taking up their
Form One places for lack of funding need a lifeline. KCPE is, for the majority of
Kenyans, a rite of passage akin
to the ancient primary rites of passage because, rightfully or wrongfully, it
separates the wheat from the chaff.
For
most parents, it is a do or die situation. The 13+ year olds who are selected
to join secondary schools to commence the journey to the next station have a
fighting stab at life. But for the child
who does not manage the threshold required to proceed to Form One, a life of
hardship and penury beckons. Oftentimes, they are destined, like the mythical
Sisyphus, for a vicious circle of poverty that could last through generations. Suggestions that the pupil might join a
village polytechnic are academic because those institutions have a stigma and
lack the resources to train and imbue 14-18 year old primary school dropouts
with lifelong skills and a meaningful craft.
It is
more painful for children who work hard and post good results but are unable to
join the secondary school of their choice because their parents are too poor to
afford it. Whereas, access to a good education is an inalienable right that should not
be determined by the economic status of one’s parents, the anxiety for some children is heightened when they
realise that their pursuit for higher education lies in jeopardy. Their parents or guardians do not have the
wherewithal to raise the requisite funds needed for Secondary School admission
as the few Institutions who attempt to offer scholarships through Corporate
Social Responsibility budgets are unable to service all the bankable applications
received for funding.
For
these future voters, despondency and hopelessness eventually sets in when they
learn, rather belatedly, that the Constituency Development Fund (Bursaries) coffers are empty and that elected officials will avoid
them like the plague at their hour of extreme need. It goes without saying that in a Country where
the gap between the rich and the poor widens by the day, most Kenyans feel
constrained to make a difference – individually - that might bring about sustainable
change.
The excitement is
electrifying as individuals – vet the applicants; transfer, receive and account for
funds; pay the requisite school fees; manage the school shopping; accompany the
children to the various secondary schools; rally other people to join in and manage the myriad of attendant social protection issues.
For
these girls and boys, from impoverished backgrounds, the Form One
admission letter is simply been a mockery that reminded them of the futility
of seeking to influence one’s destiny for the better. The suboptimal options otherwise available to
them ranged from repeating Standard 8, joining the family bricklaying business,
enrolling in ill-equipped and poorly funded community day schools, dropping out
of the school system altogether, becoming housemaids or getting married prematurely as soon as the
opportunity presented itself.
It takes passion, commitment, vision and strong resolve to rescue these children without regard to the families, clans or sub tribes into which
they were born. The rallying cry echoed Martin Luther King, Jr who is quoted as having said "Life's most persistent and urgent question ...is, 'What are you doing for others?"
Through LIFELINE and many other
similar initiatives, private citizens address the glaring faults of a system
that treats education as a privilege as opposed to a right and hence consigns
children from poor households to a perpetual life of poverty and stagnation from
which they can hardly extricate themselves, fifty years after independence
notwithstanding. A government that seeks
innovative ways to increase the tax burden of long suffering Kenyans, including
taxing their chicken, their dead and traditional healers, must at a
minimum guarantee its children 16 years of affordable quality education, from
standard one to fourth form, irrespective of their station in life by
enacting appropriate legislation and ensuring the implementation thereof.
No comments:
Post a Comment