Diversified secondary education: a comparative survey of Kenya and Tanzania

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Periodical article

Title:	Diversified secondary education: a comparative survey of Kenya and Tanzania
Author:	Sifuna, Daniel N.
Year:	1990
Periodical:	Genève-Afrique: acta africana
Volume:	28
Issue:	2
Pages:	95-103
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	Kenya Tanzania
Subjects:	secondary education vocational education
Abstract:	Following the achievement of independence, systems of education expanded rapidly in Kenya and Tanzania. This expansion tended to create a mismatch between education and employment opportunities. Technical skills remained unfilled because schools were not stressing acquisition of vocational skills. Both countries responded to the problem of technical manpower by attempts to reform education away from its dominant academic into 'diversified' directions. This article examines the attempt by Kenya and Tanzania to diversify secondary education to transmit job-oriented skills. It reveals that while in Kenya diversification meant the teaching of prevocational subjects, in Tanzania it implied a transformation of the content of education to incorporate socialist philosophical ideals. Despite differences in the ideological setting of the two countries, both diversification attempts have become what is now known as the 'vocational school fallacy'. Diversified programmes have not had a major influence on the educational and occupational aspirations of students. They continue to aspire for higher education and white collar employment. Notes, ref.