Benefits of free primary education in Kenya

  

Date Posted: 7/2/2014 12:29:36 PM

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

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The Kenyan government introduced free primary education in 2003. Despite this initiative a great number of children are still not enrolled in school, even though there has been an increase in enrollment since then.

According to a survey it has been found out that family income, gender and place of residence greatly determine whether a child in Kenya is enrolled or not enrolled in school. Also, the survey showed that urban children are more likely to be in school than those in rural areas. In this sense counties have different rates of enrollment with the discrepancy being more when some counties are put head on. In Kenya, it is evident that cities and towns have more enrollment than those counties which are located in rural areas. The capital, Nairobi, indeed has the most enrollment. Despite this statement that cities and towns have great enrollments, the coast region lags behind in terms of enrollment this bringing another view that other factors can indeed affect school enrollment.

In terms of income, it is obvious that the rich will have their kids in school while the poor may have their children out of school. The rich will have all the resources and less or even no home duties for their children. On the other hand, children from poor families may at times be assisting in home duties out even in the bringing of income home in one way or another.

Gender wise, the girl child has been favored in some ways and thereby seen increased enrollment, almost equaling that of boys. However, some counties still lag behind in this area. They still practice or follow old customs and traditions that have no place in the modern society. Some of these traditions hinder the girl child from going to school. These include: Female genital

mutilation and early marriages.

Free primary education has brought a lot of good to the country. Although certain age groups are perceived as normal to be in primary schools, the fact that education became free saw people past the primary school age enroll. This indeed is a good gesture as it shows that people are ready and willing to learn given the opportunity.

Free primary education has the following benefits

1. It attains the millennium development goal of universal primary education. This is especially in developing countries.

2. Education is an essential element in economic development of a country. Literacy undoubtedly goes hand in hand with economic growth and development.

3. The free primary education has enabled certain communities to shun away from traditions that are not beneficial in the modern society such as early marriages and female genital mutilation.

4. Education assists in realizing and exploiting one's abilities. This may in turn solve the crisis of unemployment as people may create employment by exploiting their potential.

It's a good idea that the government introduced free primary education but the following should be considered.

1. Employ more teachers in order to improve the teacher student ratio.

2. Ensure that school resources match the number of students.

3. Maintain quality even if quantity leads.

4. Find ways to reduce the gap between private and public schools.
In the end, it is the impact that education will bring to the country that matters and not the number of people given basic education. In this sense, the government should ensure that though the education is free but it instills the right knowledge and skills to propel our country in the right direction.

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