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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The Challenges of Education and Development in Post-Colonial Kenya
Author:Ntarangwi, MwendaISNI
Year:2003
Periodical:Africa Development: A Quarterly Journal of CODESRIA (ISSN 0850-3907)
Volume:28
Issue:3-4
Pages:211-228
Language:English
Notes:biblio. refs.
Geographic terms:Kenya
East Africa
Subjects:African identity
nationalism
education
Development and Technology
Education and Oral Traditions
History and Exploration
colonialism
Economic and social development
decolonization
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/24482701
Abstract:This paper addresses the legacy of colonialism as manifested in the educational system of Kenya in the postcolonial era. The author argues that although Kenya is an independent country, it is overly dependent on the West for its cultural and intellectual nourishment. He analyses the role of education in shaping a national sense of identity and as an agent for development. The author shows that the education system offered in Kenya needs a total overhaul in order to tap the best of its brains by recreating a new cultural orientation. Therefore, this paper examines, with examples from Kenya, the condition of post-coloniality as it relates to education and development, two concepts that are closely related in both national and individual discourses. The author argues that through colonialism and postcolonialism, Kenyans have absorbed imperialist values that consequently condition them to think of 'development' as the process of shedding any traces of their unique traditions and cultural practices. This has led to a situation where the majority of Kenyans have become schizophrenic members of a nation-State that tries to nurture citizens who strive to be Western and yet remain Kenyan. Even after three decades of political independence, Kenya's education system has not been able to tailor its content and pedagogy to the socioeconomic and cultural realities of its people. Instead it continues to uphold an education system that is centred on schooling rather than learning and which consequently produces a people who are incapable of fitting into their own social environments. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French. [Journal abstract, edited]
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