OUR DEFINATION OF EDUCATION NEED TO BE BROAD AND HIGHER

The greatest challenge facing our education is whether a true meaning of education is the driving force behind the great number of students streaming into our institutions of higher learning.

This call for introspection – soul searching: What is education? What is education supposed to achieve in an individual’s life?  What is the society is expectation form education? What can exactly define success in education?

Anew wind, a wind of change is blowing in Kenyan educational land scape. Everyone is waking up to class the old and the young, women and men, girls and boys …. Are all set to seize a certain target: going to class, securing higher education. And universities are no longer waiting for students to look for them they are looking for students, they are creating flexible programme to accommodate everyone who is willing to ride the wave of higher education.

The number of both public and private university is growing at an astronomical rate. However, the concern about the quality has been lingering – which calls for a comprehensive research on quality verses quantity.

In her book "Education" Mrs Ellen G White anchors the purpose of educational institutions: "Instead of educated weaklings, institutions of learning may send forth men strong to think and to act, men who are masters and not slaves of circumstances, men who possess breadth of mind, clearness of thought, and the courage of their convictions."

She adds that "such an education provides more than mental discipline; it provides more than physical training. It strengthens the character, so that truth and uprightness are not sacrificed to selfish desire or worldly ambition. It fortifies the mind against evil. Instead of some master passion becoming a power to destroy, every motive and desire are brought into conformity to the great principles of right."

Since the new dawn of that is emerging although slowly and painful fully sustaining the momentum is a must. Both middle level and university need to ride the wings of the devolved government that has been brought about by the new constitution.

Unlike in the recent past when higher education, particularly securing a place in the university was a preserve for the few “intelligent” students: Education in Kenya is becoming an open field without “failures”.

There are several entries to university apart from the A’level or KCSE entry. One can begin with proficiency, proceed to certificate before joining a diploma which open doors for a higher diploma or a get way to university alternatively some universities are currently offering mature age entry examination for those who are 25 years and above as well as pre-university route is becoming common for those who have scored a C- (Minus) and C (Plain).

These multiple entry paths have been accepted from an experience of years: Give everyone a chance so long as (s)he is determined to pay the price to attain higher education. Some Kenyan who didn’t directly secure a place at local universities ended securing a chance in overseas university only to leave a mark in the sands of academic, administration, governance and entrepreneurship among other areas.

Basically with this new wave of higher education sweeping across the country and the entire continent the perspective of higher education has been altered. Altered for personal introspection: Why should I be left behind? What is the definition and purpose of education to me as an individual? How can I use the knowledge that I have secured to transform my country?

I do buy the argument that it’s quite impractical to test one’s intelligence in one sitting for a course of eight or 12 years, but there must be a system of testing students and at the moment this is the best for Kenyans considering a matrix of factors involved.

On this premise Mrs White captures my attention: “ Our ideas of education take too narrow and too low a range. There is need of a broader scope, a higher aim. True education means more than the pursual of a certain course of study. It means more than a preparation for the life that now is. It has to do with the whole being, and with the whole period of existence possible to man. It is the harmonious development of the physical, the mental, and the spiritual powers. It prepares the student for the joy of service in this world and for the higher joy of wider service in the world to come.”