The Shocking State of Public Schools in Jubilee Kenya

[Omollo]

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This shocking especially when written by The Ethnic Rag

Where are the priorities? Most of the schools have never seen the laptops

Experts blame meagre funds allocation for sorry state of schools

[Omollo]

Class Four pupils in Misufini Primary School pay attention during class time on February 2, 2017. The school is among hundreds of other public schools in the county with poor infrastructure.

Class Seven pupils in Misufini Primary School listen to their teacher on February 2, 2017. It has dilapidated facilities.

[Georgesoros]

These are the future leaders, and counties whould be required to build schools like crazy instead of buying SUVs

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

Our grandparents and some of our great-grandparents went to school in better conditions than these.  Where do they plug in the laptops?

[gout]

Some of the MPs through CDF have concentrated on the refurbishment of the schools. Even the Roysambu MP is refurbishing some of the schools. 

Kidero is also on some complex at Marurui
http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2016/05/21/sh129-million-education-complex-under-construction-in-roysambu-to-have_c1354237

Am sure with little innovativeness and cheap Chinese technologies we can easily improve most of the public physical facilities. They are in bad shape generally. Offices, schools from ECD to university. Having highrise schools would easily increase the capacity of most public facilities and make more efficient use of the scarce public land. 

[Omollo]

I am not sure CDF funds being used on Public schools or building DCs offices is proper use of those resources.

This picture can explain:

[Globalcitizen12]

where are the freaking parents.. they cannot be this lazy and irresponsible that they cannot make desks for these kids. when I was in primary school parents paid a small fee about a dollar every term from facilities. We had the best facilities around because our headmaster was a very honest man and used the money well. We held fundraisers and built very good classrooms.

Parents and community ought to be ashamed for state the school is in.. GOK spends money on tuition not facilities

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

where are the freaking parents.. they cannot be this lazy and irresponsible that they cannot make desks for these kids. when I was in primary school parents paid a small fee about a dollar every term from facilities. We had the best facilities around because our headmaster was a very honest man and used the money well. We held fundraisers and built very good classrooms.

Parents and community ought to be ashamed for state the school is in.. GOK spends money on tuition not facilities

I could make that argument if education is devolved.  I am not sure it is.  It could also be argued that desks, among many other things like wholesome nutrition, should enjoy priority over laptops - but you will find people forcefully arguing for the exact opposite.

[Globalcitizen12]

where are the freaking parents.. they cannot be this lazy and irresponsible that they cannot make desks for these kids. when I was in primary school parents paid a small fee about a dollar every term from facilities. We had the best facilities around because our headmaster was a very honest man and used the money well. We held fundraisers and built very good classrooms.

Parents and community ought to be ashamed for state the school is in.. GOK spends money on tuition not facilities

I could make that argument if education is devolved.  I am not sure it is.  It could also be argued that desks, among many other things like wholesome nutrition, should enjoy priority over laptops - but you will find people forcefully arguing for the exact opposite.

let us be honest there is no budget for this kind of things without levying more taxes to an already overtaxed populace.. The way to do this is to go back to basics reintroduce building fund that will be catered by the whole community. Also, getting more middle class parents to move their kids back public schools will help. Right now public schools are left for the poor. As matter of fact most rural public schools in central do not have enough kids to justify their continued existence.

[Empedocles]

Upside priorities.

[Georgesoros]

You seem to have no knwolege of the level of povery in Kenya. Most paretns cant even afford uniform while governors are busy buying SUVs instead of investing heavily in public institutions. Poeople are poorer than 1970, 1980s, 1990, and going on. A few that have it really have it good, the rest are very poor. My friend there are more kids dropping out after primary because [arents cant affor secondary school than any time in history and its getting worse.

where are the freaking parents.. they cannot be this lazy and irresponsible that they cannot make desks for these kids. when I was in primary school parents paid a small fee about a dollar every term from facilities. We had the best facilities around because our headmaster was a very honest man and used the money well. We held fundraisers and built very good classrooms.

Parents and community ought to be ashamed for state the school is in.. GOK spends money on tuition not facilities

[Globalcitizen12]

so who is to blame for Poverty? Is Uhuru or the "government" to blame for poverty? Kenya poverty is legendary. In Nairobi the capital City 2/3 of residents are dirt poor and can barely afford food. The rural areas are no exception. my point is that there no funds to build better school even if we diverted all payroll of current politicians to education we would still not meet the need. the only hope for Kenya more discovery of oil fields and hopefully better utilization of these funds to spur economic growth.

Kids are sitting on the floor because the taxpayer is dirt poor and has no ability to pay more taxes to allow gok to fund better facilities.. In my early days in school we had no urinals and peed in a shed that we all had to put ash from home to soak urine.. As most of the villagers in my area economic situation improved due to better tea prices the school levied more building fund fees and a proper urinal was constructed..

So blame poverty in areas like this and not government misplaced tablets

[MOON Ki]

so who is to blame for Poverty? Is Uhuru or the "government" to blame for poverty? Kenya poverty is legendary. In Nairobi the capital City 2/3 of residents are dirt poor and can barely afford food. The rural areas are no exception. my point is that there no funds to build better school even if we diverted all payroll of current politicians to education we would still not meet the need. the only hope for Kenya more discovery of oil fields and hopefully better utilization of these funds to spur economic growth.

Kids are sitting on the floor because the taxpayer is dirt poor and has no ability to pay more taxes to allow gok to fund better facilities.. In my early days in school we had no urinals and peed in a shed that we all had to put ash from home to soak urine.. As most of the villagers in my area economic situation improved due to better tea prices the school levied more building fund fees and a proper urinal was constructed..

So blame poverty in areas like this and not government misplaced tablets

Can the government better utilize the money it has right now?    Are laptops a real priority?  The government brought a lot of energy to the laptops thing.   Could it have brought and can it still bring the same energy to providing classrooms and desks for all?   (Many schools already have these things anyway, so it would not be the laptops business.)    That photo up there summarizes a type of  "national idiocy" that can be found only in a place like Kenya.   And it gives one a pretty good idea of where we will be 50 years from now (if there is no dramatic change).   

Not having money is one thing; wasting even the little one has is quite another.   To anyone who says "not enough money", I say take a look at the auditor-general's report for any year and see how much is stolen or simply wasted.   There's the money.   And even when money is given for "free" by others, what happens?    How much "free education" money from "donors" simply got eaten?   All the money that gets eaten in corruption scandal after corruption scandal ... what could it do for schools?

And saying that 2/3 of Nairobians can barely afford food because they are poor misses a fundamental point.    If a country is producing food as it should, then, because of the quantities available, food becomes easily affordable even for those at the bottom of the scale.     On a national scale that is a government's responsibility, and to see what happens when that responsibility is taken seriously, one need only look at parts of Asia that have made very rapid progress in the last 50 years.    In Kenya, people starve with every drought because some just see it as a matter of poverty.  (Pundit will happily tell you how MPESA is "helping" them.)

Kenyans need to get past this idea that they are poor, so therefore, and just wait for some lucky strike.   First make good use of the little you have and then cry poverty.  And when I say "make good use of", I mean the government making good use of what the taxpayer is coughing up.   That is especially critical because, as you put it, "the taxpayer is dirt poor and has no ability to pay more taxes".   

Parkepen's point is the people have already paid taxes, and they should get some value out of it; so it is not fair to state, as you do,  that "they cannot be this lazy and irresponsible that they cannot make desks for these kids".   That is actually bizarre when you then go on to add that they are too poor to contribute any more.

Finally:   In blithely asking "so who is to blame for Poverty? Is Uhuru or the "government" to blame for poverty?" you have missed an especially fundamental point.    Nations that lift themselves out of poverty do not manage it because they are full of individuals manfully labouring to pull themselves up by their boot-strings.  And even in the most "advanced" countries today,  the state of the economy, and how that is reflected in individual well-being, is especially important to the average citizen.  A government has a huge---an possibly the hugest---role to play in that, and any government that is not doing what it should be doing may be blamed.    Even striking it rich in natural resources will not make much of a difference if the newly riches are simply blown or stolen.   So, quite apart from the issue above, here is a better question for you to ask: "What are Uhuru (as president) and his government doing about poverty in Kenya?".    (No, kularing nyama by a few doesn't count.)

[Globalcitizen12]

The little money there is in education has been 95% used well to pay for teachers, buy books and other supplies.. What is the total of money per auditor general that has been misused that was supposed to go to education? I do not want to discuss corruption in other dockets as that money being stolen there was already allocated for other things than education. I say it is responsibility of a parent to ensure that his or her child are adequately catered for in school. A little effort by locals where this schools are can help "build" desks for these kids.. you do not need that much to build a "FORM" that kids can sit on

There was a certain maverick headmaster in my village:
He asked parents to ensure that kids wear shoes when coming to school. parents scoffed at the idea and said they could not afford shoes. So one morning he sent every kid without shoes on home. So parents were mad and asked for a meeting, he agreed for a meeting. When all them showed up they had shoes on and so he asked how the afforded those because he knows they have several pairs.. There was no argument and most parents realized how selfish of them wearing shoes while their young kids walked barefoot to school and so the culture of shoes as a basic right for kid was born in my village.

I bet you some of the kids sitting on the floor have sofas at home.

sometimes poverty can be excuse. we need to go back to community Self Help mantra

[MOON Ki]

The little money there is in education has been 95% used well to pay for teachers, buy books and other supplies.. What is the total of money per auditor general that has been misused that was supposed to go to education? I do not want to discuss corruption in other dockets as that money being stolen there was already allocated for other things than education. I say it is responsibility of a parent to ensure that his or her child are adequately catered for in school. A little effort by locals where this schools are can help "build" desks for these kids.. you do not need that much to build a "FORM" that kids can sit on

You should think of the entire budget instead of merely what is nominally allocated to education.    The reason for that is obvious: there is only so much money, and money that is being wasted or stolen elsewhere could be put to better use in education and elsewhere. The larger point is that money is being stolen and wasted all over the place, and in such circumstances it makes little sense to insist that it is all a matter of the government not having enough tax-payer money. Even with the budget of an individual household, one never says "it's OK to waste money here  and not worry about  expenditures elsewhere because of this and that allocation".    Think of the national budget as the budget for the "national household", and you will get a better picture, which you can then improve by reflecting on "supplementary" budgets.   

It's not as though the the various allocations are handed down in stone, and so theft and waste in one place must not be connected to the supposed lack of money elsewhere.    But if, for a moment, we accept your view, what say you on theft and waste in the education vote?

You have stated that

the only hope for Kenya more discovery of oil fields

Part of that "larger point" is that this will not help in the present culture of theft and waste.  Kenya, without oil,  is already giving Nigeria some stiff competition in the Corruption Stakes, and one hates to imagine what it would be like when oils starts to seriously flow.  I hope that this oil thing doesn't get going until there's a more responsible government in place.   

I say it is responsibility of a parent to ensure that his or her child are adequately catered for in school.

You certainly have some unusual views.   In most places---and even in Kenya, I think---most people see basic education as one of the things that the government is obliged to provide, and that includes all that involved, beyond just teachers and books.  Providing walls, roofs, desks, etc. should not be responsibility of parents.   It is particularly important in a place like Kenya for the government to ensure that school-children have the proper sort of educational experience (and that includes "environmental" factors).   In any case, if, as you claim, it does not take much to provide  "desk"/"form", then why isn't the government doing it?

Beyond what you think is the responsibility of a parent and what I might think, what does the Kenyan Ministry of Education itself say on what the government should provide?   Is the government providing it? If so, to what extent; if not why not?   

I bet you some of the kids sitting on the floor have sofas at home.

Sorry, I don't get it.    What does that have to do with the government's obligations to provide a proper environment for public education?    Should our expectations of the government be limited to what we can provide for ourselves as individuals?   If so, why bother with having a government at all?   

Take the statement you have just put forth, on the situation depicted in that photo doesn't matter, and extend it to other aspects of life.

[Globalcitizen12]

The ministry of education provides free tuition and on top of that even provides books. Since independence the responsibility of providing facilities for learning has been left to parents. The only radical idea i have seen concerning this for GOK/ministry of education to layoff teachers in areas like nairobi and central where we have more teachers than needed and redeploy these funds.

How Much of the budget is stolen? is it 5% or 70%..give me a number since you have had the chance to read Ouko's manifesto..

Bottomline to build facilities GOK will have to levy more taxes. Right now kenyan budget has no money to build school facilities

on Oil I believe kenya will do better than Nigeria

[MOON Ki]

Since independence the responsibility of providing facilities for learning has been left to parents.

Really?   That's news to me.   I went to school---in all sorts of places---in Kenya, and that was never the impression I got. I'm certainly glad and fortunate that independence (and said responsibility) came later!   

If things today are as you say, then right there is a very basic problem: The responsibility for providing all that is required for the free and public education that is mandated in the constitution lies with the government.  That's what I think.  And such obligations extend to other things---health, security, etc---and are, quite properly separate from what people "have at home". That's what I think.

But your views are very interesting, and if you are right, then it's  a message that really needs to get out there.

How Much of the budget is stolen? is it 5% or 70%..give me a number since you have had the chance to read Ouko's manifesto..

Why not take a look at the reports and get the facts before you insist that:

Bottomline to build facilities GOK will have to levy more taxes. Right now kenyan budget has no money to build school facilities

[Globalcitizen12]

which schools have you been too that were not built by Missionaries (later taken over by GOK) or community?

[MOON Ki]

which schools have you been too that were not built by Missionaries (later taken over by GOK) or community?

The local school in my village.

But what is your point?   That things that "were not built by Missionaries (later taken over by GOK) or community" remain the sole responsibility of the citizens?    That would be a bit problematic, given that much of what "modern Kenya" is based on was built by others (colonial wazungus) and later taken over by GoK.     What you need to focus on: the responsibilities of the government today, as stated in the constitution and in GoK's own policy papers and plans.  A government has obligations to its citizens, and those obligations are not discharged even if the citizens decide to (because they feel they have to) fend for themselves or others (NGOs today in place of missionaries) take up the work.  It is true that government in Kenya is mostly about stealing and eating meat, but that should not be the norm; and I'd like to believe that Kenyans have more "productive" expectations to go with their taxes.

Going back a little bit, there is an even more basic point that you still apparently cannot see.    Take another look at that photo up there.   See the laptops that the Jubilee government has been so proud of and is spending a lot of money on?   Excellent.   Now, take a look at the whole picture.   Don't rush it; take your time.   Small, small.   Easy, easy.   Eventually, you will see the whole picture.   

And while you are staring at the picture, try to select one line that you will stick to: Either the people are so poor that they cannot do anything or add anything more to government coffers, or they are "[so]  lazy and irresponsible that they cannot make desks for these kids". 

[Globalcitizen12]

who is this Government? Is it an abstract entity that 'can provide free education".. The constitution calls from free education and universal whatever but talk is cheap (the letter of katiba). However, reality is that we have 65% of Kenyans who have no ability to pay taxes to so that this "government" can provide free education. These 65% however can use other means such as fund raising, offering free labour to build facilities in schools.. So mine is a call to these "poor" parents to stop sitting on their behinds waiting for ministry of education to provide desks but to innovate a way of making desks using locally available material. with 3K I can make these kids desks and by mobilizing the community.

So your pipe dream of free education with nice facilities it is that a dream that our Katiba envisions for the future but we must deal with our present problems here and now.

Also, there is a need for ministry of education to make efforts to bring middle class and rich back to public school so that at least there is enough diversity to offer leadership in matters like this