History of Kenya
* region inhabited by humanoids
for over 4 million years
*Arab traders colonized coast
*German Missionaries
*1885 British/ German division
*1888 Imperial British East Africa Company
European Powers
*German/ British agreement
*French/ British war
*1895 East Africa Company revoked
*Kenya is proctorate of Biritsh government
East Africa Protectorate
*encourage settlement in Kenya's temperate highlands by farmers of European origin
*Introduce the forced African labour (banned on 1920s)
*1904 -settled Africans on reserves
*Indian labor is brought in to construct the railway
*the East Africa Protectorate to Kenya Colony
Kenyan colony
*dispossessed of their land and are confined in reservations
*white highlands' policy restricts the ownership of the best farming land to Europeans
*1919 the white settlers are allowed to elect members to the legislative council.
*1921 East Africa Association (recover Kikuyu land)
*1925-Kikuyu Central Association (Jomo Kenyatta- newspaper, Muigwithania (The Unifier)
*1927, Indians win the right to five seats on the council
*1930s- Kenyatta methods are peaceful to assert rights1944 the legislative council in Nairobi (the capital since 1905) first African member
*1952 Mau Mau revolution
*1953 Jomo Kenyatta arrested
*main victims of Mau Mau violence are other Kikuyu who refuse to support the cause (11, 000 Mau Mau die in conflict with British)
*1960, London conference gives Africans the majority of seats in the legislative council. - Kenya's first African parties are formed to take part in the developing political process.
*Jomo Kenyatta is elected president to KANU (Kenya African National Union) from prison
*1963 Kenyan Independence
*Jomo Kenyatta involves other tribes besides
Kikuyu in administration (single party rule)
* Jomo Kenyatta dies in 1978,
Kenya ranks high among African countries
both in terms of political stability and economic growth.
*1990s prove a difficult time. Kenya flounders economically
- IMF suspends its promised program of loans
Kenyan Culture
*population 32 million
*minorities make up 1% of population
*numerous tribes from two language group
-Bantu of Western Africa
( Swahili as lingua franca)
-Nilotic from the Nile Valley
Kenyan Language
*English and Swahili are the languages taught throughout the country*Sheng is a mixture of Swahili and English along with a fair sprinkling of other languages
Kenyan Religion
*Coastal region is muslim
*Interior mostly Christian
Kenyan Music
Benga-Contemporary Dance music
Kenyan cuisine
*heavy carb rich with beans or a meat sauce
*Nyama Choma (BBQ beef or goat)
*Beer drinking culture
Kenyan family/ society
*“Harambee,” to pull together
*the extended family is the basis of the social structure
*family includes relatives on both sides and close friends
*husband’s parents will live with the nuclear family
Education
1963- Free primary movement
1967-East African Community
7-4-2-3 system
- 7 years of primary education
- 4 years of secondary education
- 2 years of high school
- 3 to 5 years of university education
Exams
*East African Certificate of Primary Education (completed at age 13)
*East African Certificate of Education examination*
East African Advanced Certificate of Education
1977-East African Community Collapsed
Kenyan changed the names of the exams to
*Certificate of Primary education
*Kenya Certificate of Education
*Kenya Advanced Certificate of Education
1985-President Daniel arap Moi, introduced the 8-4-4 system
*8 years of primary education
*4 years of secondary education
*4 years of university education
Exams
*Kenya Certificate of Primary Education
*Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education
Attendence
* 85 percent attend primary school.
* 75 percent attend secondary schools
* 60 percent of those who complete secondary school proceed to higher institutions of education
Education Quality
Standard 2 level, which is the level where students are supposed to have achieved basic competency in reading English and Kiswahili and completing simple arithmetic problems.
*Standard 2 students
Cannot Read English Paragraph- 85%
Cannot Read Swahili Paragraph- 81%
Cannot Do Subtraction- 79%
*Standard 5 students
Cannot Read English Paragraph-27%
Cannot Read Swahili Paragraph-23%
Cannot Do Subtraction- 30%
*Standard 8
Cannot Read English Paragraph -4%
Cannot Read Swahili Paragraph -4%
Cannot Do Subtraction-10%
Quality
Key Facts about education in Kenya, based on the results of the Uwezo 2009 assessment:
1. Literacy levels are low, and are substantially lower in certain regions. Girls tend to perform better in reading English and Kiswahili, while boys tend to perform better in math.
2. Literacy levels are lower in public schools than private schools.
3. Most children can solve real world, “ethno-mathematics” problems, while fewer can solve similar math problems in an abstract, pencil and paper format.
4. 5% of children are not enrolled in school, but the problem is far worse in particular regions.
5. About half of children are enrolled in pre-school.
6. Many children are older than expected for their class level, including 40% of children in class 2, and 60% of children in class 7.
7. North Eastern Province and arid districts in Rift Valley and Eastern Provinces have particularly low performance; and many older children, especially girls, are not attending school.
8. Many families pay for extra tuition, which focuses heavily on drilling and exam preparation.
9. Schools struggle to plan their budgets because they receive funds at unpredictable times.
10. Children whose mothers are educated, particularly beyond primary school, tend to have much higher rates of literacy and numeracy.
11. About 15% of students are absent on a given day, with much higher absenteeism in certain districts.
12. There is a severe shortage of teachers, estimated at 4 teachers per school.
Primary School information
*6 or 7 after completion of a year of kindergarten
*The first class or year of primary school is known as Standard 1, the final year as Standard 8 *Primary school children are known as pupils
*January and ends in November
*Students get 3 school vacations in April, August and December.
*Students who completely fail their end of year exams usually repeat the class the following year instead of advancing to a higher grade
*Most primary schools are day schools with pupils living at home
Lowell Kenyan Students quotes
" Religion is very important to my family. We go to church at least three times a week and then practice at home the other days."
Martin-Grade 5
" I like school, especially English. My favorite book is To Kill A Mocking Bird" but I also really like to read fantasy."
" Music is a big part of church and family parties."
Jeff -Sophomore
" I hate taking notes. I like more to work with stuff like experiments. And I like group work way more than working on my own."
" At Christmas, we always have goat. Its like tradition."
Lucy-Senior
"In Kenya, the teachers could hit us. They would tell you to go outside and get a stick. If you came back with a small one, they send you back. It worked though because its not fun to get the stick."
Tony-Grade 7
"In Kenya, the school days were longer and we had to go on some Saturdays and we had a lot more homework. You would never even think of not doing homework."
Olivia-Freshman