Date Posted: 4/24/2012 10:29:08 AM
Posted By: Bony maurice Membership Level: Silver Total Points: 214
The introduction of the 8-4-4 system of education introduced very many changes in the education in Kenya. The changes have continued with modifications being made every year. The laws have been loosened and syllabus simplified just to suit the learners. Unfortunately, these have had their own influences on education with performance deteriorating. There are practices which have been introduced or eliminated and therefore having a negative impact on academics. First is the elimination of punishment from schools. There is leniency whereby learners commit crimes but no punishment is pronounced on them. There is no strictness in schools leading to deviance, and breaking of rules arbitrarily. Discipline is directly proportional to academic performance and any decline in discipline levels means the performance also goes down. Our education has also become less practical and now just encompasses too much theory. There is less fieldwork and experiments being done. The learners are mostly taught to pass examinations and not gaining knowledge for application in technological and scientific fields. They cram the bookish notes but with very little understanding. The practicals done are given less attention and reports copied from others. This is actually the main reason why we have very less innovations and discoveries being made nowadays. Students study what they do not understand and thus cannot come up with new ideas. The examination system has lost its quality too. Cheating has become rampant and less is done to prevent this. The education officers are in the fore front to encourage cheating by giving out leakages of the examination. Some of those who excel do so due to their dishonest work. They are then promoted to next levels of study and continue with similar habits there. At the end the school disseminate a professional to the market who is very less skilled. The education system has also been reduced by the laziness of some teachers. It is appalling that these adult representatives of the society will pay less attention to their career. They have less passion on teaching and just do it as a by the way. Less seriousness is given to ensuring his/her learners excel. Such teachers will fail to finish the syllabus in time, do little remedial and never encourage the students. Some teachers fail to be role models to learners by engaging in characters unworthy for a teacher. The students of such a teacher are demoralized and are unable to work hard. Student deviance is also acting as a major cause in poor performance. When students are deviating from the rules and regulations, they always give less attention to books. Rudeness to teachers makes them less attentive during lessons, they miss classes and engage in drugs which negatively affect their studies. The parents on the other hand are not playing their roles. They do not encourage the learners and neither do they buy them the necessities of school. The parents solely leave their children in the hands of the teachers. Such are conditions that make learners see no value in pursuing their academic dreams. With few chances in the job market, an urge to perform well even diminishes more.Kenya has given no hope to the youth of the job opportunities after school. The positions in careers have adamantly remained to the old men who are unwilling to relinquish them. The youngsters get no genuine reason to work hard for excellence. Some end up dropping out yet others work less harder.
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