Ideology and schooling in Kenya, 1965-78

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to address the following question: How and why did demand for schooling influence primary and secondary school provision in Kenya in the period 1965-1978, and what course did the pertinent ideological discourse take? Utilizing available public documents, other writings pertaining to education in Kenya and theoretical insights, an interpretative reconstruction of the evolution of primary and secondary schooling was carried out. The notions of ideology and interpretation acted as the frames of reference. Emphasizing the primacy of economic growth, the dominant Kenyan politicians intended to subordinate school provision to the demands of economic growth. Resource limitations called for restraint in the expansion of school provision, initially at primary school level and later at secondary school level. But the leadership also advocated individual self-improvement and community self-help, both of which had expansive implications for school provision. Also, the leadership had to pursue the political goal of distributing school facilities among competing interests. As a result, the demands imposed on school provision by (a) the primacy of economic growth, (b) individual self improvement, (c) community self-help, and (d) political iii prudence in the distribution of school facilities tended to be in conflict, a situation aggravated by some divergence between the technocratic and the political rationales in school prov ision. The resolution of the conflicts consisted in a dynamic compromise whereby the leadership, communities and individuals all attempted to attain their goals. School provision expanded under the pressures of self-improvement, self-help and advancement of political careers. There was public and private diversion of resources from investment iQ immediate economic growth and from improvement of educational quality. The qualitative distinctions among schools and the large volume of enrolments enabled the leadership to advance, with difficulty, towards its economic and political objectives~ The possibility of individual advancement, along with a number of adaptive mechanisms, enabled the evolving school provision system to acquire and retain a measure of both popular and official legitimacy. As a compromise, the system only partially, and in some crucial instances hardly, satisfied the goals the various interests pursued. Altogether, the ideological discourse accompanying the evolution of school provision pushed the provision beyond the levels sanctioned by the initial economic growth rationale, but, particularly in the short-term perspective, in accordance with the leadership's political requirements.