How to improve rural education standards in Kenya

  

Date Posted: 6/20/2014 7:20:17 AM

Posted By: Wishstar  Membership Level: Gold  Total Points: 7507

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Improvement of rural education standards in Kenya

We have come to accept that the percentage of educated people in urban areas is way more than that in rural areas in Knya. It's one thing accepting and a totally different thing in finding the solution! Though, through the new constitution we have been able to get a devolved system of government, it hasn't been able to make things better or if it did, only in a few (underline few) counties and even so not to desired levels.

Illiteracy is one of the major impediments to improving employ-ability and fostering economic growth and development. Thousands of rural people, in this era and generation, believe me, still don't have access to basic formal education. They still rely on the informal education that used to be back in the traditional African societies. Yes, this is still a worthy course but without it being coupled with formal education then there is bound to be a problem. These kind of people will remain unemployed because they don't qualify for the kinds of jobs that are available. Also, creativity and innovation to meet the 21st century requirements will hardly come from such areas.

Why do rural areas lag behind in terms of education as compared to urban areas?
This is a question which can be easily answered but the difficult part to answer it is why the situation still persists! Rural areas lag behind educationally firstly because some communities still embrace cultural practices and customs which are outdated. For instance, education of the girl child in some is seen as unnecessary since the girl child is looked upon as inferior as compared to the boy child. In other communities, it is preferred that young people involve themselves in such activities as farming in favor of going to school. And can

you imagine that some communities still practice early marriages on young girls that is shattering their hopes of ever getting formal education? In rural areas, some have managed to go to school but most end up dropping out of school without completing their studies. Mostly, the reasons are well known.

Literacy remains a significant challenge in trying to attain equal development between urban and rural areas. The educational divide between rural and urban areas is not improving at desired rates. Rather, people prefer to go to higher levels of learning in urban areas as they see better quality of education there. This is among the reasons that have caused a large disparity in the development between rural and urban areas.

Among the major effects of low literacy levels in rural areas is increased hunger and poverty. Government is doing something to try to counter this effect but is not doing at its best levels. The interventions really aren't being translated into the desired results. Therefore urgent action is needed from the major stakeholders including the government, educators, potential employers and NGOs.
In order to improve the education standards of rural areas of Kenya, the following steps may be taken:

1. Improve the infrastructure of rural schools.
Infrastructure and availability of adequate and appropriate resources in a learning institution really play a role in the quality of education offered in that particular institution.

2. Elaborate the importance of formal education to rural communities.
Some rural communities don't realize the importance of formal education in the modern society. If the importance are well elaborated, then higher chances are that the formal education will be embraced. This in turn may lead to economic growth and development and therefore reduction in poverty and hunger.

3. Discourage certain cultural practices.
Certain cultural practices such as female genital mutilation and the viewing of girls as inferior should be well eliminated. This will not only improve the enrollment of girls in school but also improve gender balance and equality.

4. Proper management of resources
Without proper management of resources, then development will lag and hence low quality of education.

5. Elimination of corruption
Corruption is the one thing that makes our nation and most of the developing nations lag behind as compared to developed nations. Some leaders are given the resources required to develop their areas but end up misusing and embezzling some of the resources. If such behaviors are eliminated or even reduced, then we'll be heading in the right direction.

6. Leaders to play their role
Leaders should play their roles and not just occupying the positions because of the prestige and money that comes with the title.
In addition to the above mentioned, each and everyone of us has his/her own role to play in ensuring that education standards in rural areas match those in urban areas.

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