Our education system’s weak point is not the number of years spent at each of the three levels: primary, secondary, and university.
The teacher is the conveyor belt of our values, dreams, ethos, and national goals; not the physical infrastructure.
Yet, we devote a great lot of time to arguing the number of years one should spend at each level, rearranging the years from 7.6.3 to 8.4.4 to 2.6.6.3.
It is doubtful that this is the final combination of school years. The most recent variant involves transitioning from rote learning (memorization techniques focused on repetition) to exploration and encouraging creativity.
This more closely resembles the American response to the Soviet Union following the launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik.
School system
What is the educational system’s education? Constitutional reform? Vision 2030, the Big Four, global realities, and legacy creation. In all of these variations, the teacher is the only consistent variable. Yet, we pay insufficient attention to the men and women who administer our school system and focus up the largest proportion of government officials and rural elite.
Without recognizing the importance of the teacher, we will never be able to run an effective education system, matter of the number of years between the various levels.
The teacher acts as a conveyor belt, passing on our culture and knowledge from one generation to the next.
Teachers bear the weight of two generations, their own and the children who will come after them.
It is a difficult and draining profession. But for most ordinary Kenyans, speaking is the simplest task. Acquaintance produces disdain. We’ve all been instructed, yet we rarely encounter legal situations, medical issues, or engineering tasks.
Teachers work with the most complicated system in the universe, the human brain, which exacerbates the difficulties of their profession.
With the addition of stereotypes, prejudices, and high expectations, the work can be stressful. Today, the situation has worsened since teachers have become a social wastebasket.
Noting that the remedy to a national problem is to incorporate it into the curriculum, from HIV/AIDS to corruption?
Infrequently do we recommend curriculum eliminations. Teaching has become a perilous profession due to pressure from parents, governments, and students.
What proportion of teachers suffer from high blood pressure? What about fatigue? Adding the law that stripped the teacher of all authority makes the task even more challenging.
Teachers and the presidency share a common characteristic: both have been losing influence.
They have lost power at a time when they need it most due to rapidly changing social and economic conditions.
To what extent may this powerlessness be related to the current challenges in society?
Enough divergence. How can we aid the hardest-working men and women in Kenya?
Teaching is difficult because delegation is difficult. Politicians dispatch representatives to events. Who do teachers assign?
Do we ever ponder how quickly our GDP would expand if we had a generation that was inspired by teachers at all levels? A method to make teaching more inspiring is to recruit more A-students into the field.
Innovation and originality
It is one of the mysteries of our time that we direct A-students toward engineering or medicine, which have formulas, precedent, and are therefore simpler than education.
Teaching new students each year is difficult. The children bring you all of their difficulties, even parental failure.
To aid such children, you must be an A student.
Engineers and architects do not use tables or formulas, whereas teachers do not. They address each situation on an individual basis, requiring uncommon inventiveness and skill.
Some believe that if teacher teachers were increased, more A-students would be attracted to the field. But there is more to it than compensation. Teachers must find their jobs more rewarding and less restrictive. How about increasing the entrance standards for Bachelor of Education programs and mandating that all teachers hold a degree?
We also require that only individuals who select education as their first option be admitted to teacher preparation teachers.
This will create a group of passionate and devoted teachers. With such a dedicated group, we could even eliminate national examinations and have teachers evaluate students.
The working circumstances must also be improved. In addition to physical illnesses, there are also emotional conditions. They require more freedom to carry out their duties and even to experiment, similar to parenting.
Perhaps we should take a page from Germany, whose Constitution guarantees academic independence.
As soon as we enhance the entry requirements, the prestige of the profession and the quality of education will increase. We will make Kenya’s economy more competitive by fostering competitive minds.
Moreover, why do accountants have CPA examinations, financial analysts have CFA exams, et cetera, but teachers do not have tests such as certified Math Teacher?
The esteem of teachers should be surprisingly high. One of our presidents has held a teacher position.
The key to making our educated men and women the envy of other nations is not physical facilities or the number of years spent at each level of education, but rather, teachers.
A greater focus on teachers could help us realize Vision 2030 before 2030.