By Onyimbi Nelson, Ricky Ngere
The Organization of African Unity (now, the African Union) initiated the International Day of the African Child on the 16th of June of 1991 as an annual remembrance of the pupils and students who lost their lives in the Soweto uprising of 1976 in South Africa and a day to recommit to the promotion of the rights of every child. This year’s theme “Education for all children in Africa; the time is now” seeks to re-affirm the efforts by governmental heads to ensure that young learners are supported in their right to the minimum accepted level of education.
In Kenya, despite the constitutional provision in Article 53 (1)(b) which gives children the right to free and compulsory basic education, children still face a myriad of hurdles in accessing schools. Aside from the recent natural happenings including floods, which paralyzed accessibility by sweeping bridges and access roads in many parts of the country, children also face structural and systemic challenges. Young girls from low-income families, for example, miss out on approximately 4 school days in a month, translating to about 40 days in a school calendar year due to the inability to access safe and hygienic menstrual health products. Young boys may also miss out on several school days in communities with settings for cheap child labor, such as mining communities around Kuria, Migori, and other parts of the country. Children with various disabilities equally face a proportionate struggle in adequately accessing and benefiting from education due to challenges in the provision of the various needs of accessibility. This also includes the insufficiency of well-trained teachers to handle learners with various disabilities.
To challenge some of these obstacles, the Basic Education Act was enacted in 2013 and amended in 2017. The Act tasks the government to provide the required standards and guidelines for pupils and students to enjoy the right to basic education up to the level of secondary school, after which they can qualify for vocational training, colleges, and universities. Sadly, a significant proportion fail to qualify past secondary school. A notable percentage of young girls also drop out of school due to the effects of harmful traditions such as female genital mutilation (FGM) which lead to them getting married in their teenage years, and consequently becoming young parents.
Despite the measures that have been put in place, a lot more still needs to be done to ensure that the African Child in Kenya reaps the fruits of education. The Government of Kenya, alongside other stakeholders working in the field of education, needs to effect the long-overdue legislation including the Return To School Policies that ensures young girls, after becoming young mothers, can be readmitted to complete school. Additionally, the government needs to fortify infrastructure in schools around the nation to cushion against natural disasters such as the floods witnessed recently. Lastly, the government, as tasked by the various legislation, should purpose to leave no one behind in the provision of education, ensuring that equitable accessibility is also prioritized. World over, education has been hailed as an equalizer across socioeconomic classes, and it would equally benefit the government to invest in education.
