4.1 THE KENYAN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM: FACTS AND FIGURES
The existing curricular system in Kenya was introduced in January 1985 and is organised according to a model called “8-4-4”. Primary school lasts 8 years; secondary school, which follows, lasts 4 years and it gives access to academic education, which lasts 4 years. Since its independence, reached in 1963, Kenya has invested considerable resources in the educational sector. For about twenty-five years, these investments, coupled with some specific government policies, have tremendously increased access to education at all levels.
It is widely recognised that investments in education and research are a key component for a country’s economic and social development. The increase in public investments in the education system is commonly associated to increasing benefits in the field of production, the reduction of poverty, and improvements in the health and economic sectors. Nevertheless, the governments of developing countries still invest a very small percentage of their budget in education. In this respect, Kenya shows a reverse trend compared to other Sub-Saharan countries.
In Kenya, between 1991 and 2000, the percentage of public expenditure spent in education was 28.2% of the total government spending; in 2004, it went up to 29.2%, which was particularly high when compared with other countries both inside and outside Africa.  These investments undoubtedly improved the state of education premises throughout the country; they also strengthened a network of schools in the region, expanded the territorial coverage of educational services, and increased access to these services by the population. Figures concerning adult literacy , for example, increased from 20% in 1963 to 73.6% in the year 2000 , which clearly shows the strong development of education in the country.
Currently, Kenya’s literacy level is of 80.7%  of the population. These data vary on the basis of gender and different districts: in fact, women and rural areas display lower values

4.2 ACCESS TO EDUCATION IN KENYA: RELATED PROBLEMS

In a study on the decrease of primary school enrolments carried out in 2003, some Kenyan researchers  emphasised that inside the country’s educational system, the situation is fraught with several problems and is at a standstill. Some factors of importance that were mentioned were the unvarying number of school repeaters, high dropout rates and, most seriously, decreasing primary and secondary school enrolments rates. The percentage of children who do not access the educational system, the so called “children out-of-school”, was still as high as 36% in 2002; it decreased to 23% only as late as 2004 .
In the last part of the last century, several factors in Kenya led to a decline in the importance attached to school education as a tool to combat poverty. Moreover, the country’s educational system is far too complex to be analysed in detail in this paper. In their study, the Kenyan researchers pointed out that, from the mid 1980’s, the involvement of the population in training and education started decreasing. In this respect, two elements were identified as carrying a specific importance: the reform of school curricula of 1984-1985 and a policy of distribution of resources within the educational system implemented in 1988 , which encumbered families with a series of costs that had until then been paid by the government. This policy, as a result, discouraged families from sending their children to school.
Besides these two important elements concerning educational policies, the Kenyan researchers also pointed out some other factors that could play an important role in the outcome of the policies adopted, such as pedagogical visions, school management practices, teachers’ motivation and training, and the strength of the teachers’ organisations.
The level of teachers’ training appears to be have a significant bearing on primary and secondary school enrolment rates; it seems to be even more important that the problem of the high number of pupils in each class, which is caused by a lack of teaching staff . Policies aimed at giving teachers the chance to acquire a higher level of competences could therefore have a concrete effect on access rates with regards to primary and secondary education.
In Kenya, although the government elected in 2002 launched a policy supporting teachers’ training and refresher courses, there are still no training courses free of charge. Often, teachers do not have the means to upgrade their skills and improve their professional position, since this would carry excessively great costs for them. In a rural context, financial problems are made worse by logistical problems, which make it difficult for them to actually attend the courses. The few existing training centres are located in urban areas. In the last few years, UNESCO figures show an improvement of the country’s educational system, as illustrated by some data below, which show a growth of primary and secondary school enrolment rates.

Figure: net primary school enrolment rate

Source: UNESCO, Institute for Statistic, 2004
Figure: net secondary school enrolment rate

Source: UNESCO, Institute for Statistic, 2004

If we look at upper secondary and academic education, the country’s situation appears to be particularly serious, in line with the situation of the whole Sub-Saharan region. In Kenya, only as few as 3% of eligible pupils enrols at university and only 30% of them are women.

4.3 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES IN KENYA

Finding information and data on new technologies in Kenya has been particularly arduous. International organisations’ databases and websites contain but little information. The available figures that were most useful for this study were national aggregate data on Internet usage, mobile telephone subscriptions, and the presence of Internet hosts. Institutional government websites did not help much in this regard either: they seem to lack all information on the presence, access, and use of PC’s and e-mail on a national scale, as well as on the access and use of the Internet on a smaller territorial scale. This lack led researchers to establish personal contacts with local experts of new communication and education technologies, who were mostly university professors. This approach bore its fruit: a Kenyan professor who collaborates with the MIT on a mobile learning project in Kenya indicated some Internet resources that had not been found previously. These indications led to the identification of two websites that contain a substantial wealth of information:
1. www.cck.go.ke
2. http://www.researchictafrica.net
The report published by the “Communication Commission of Kenya & International Development Research Centre” in 2004 shows some interesting data on information technologies in the country. It is estimated that, in Kenya, there are about 400,000 Internet users; in other words, the use of the Net is calculated to be of 1.27 people every 100. This figure is in line with the data reported by WISIS that, in 2005, calculated that the use of the Internet among the population was of 1.6 people every 100. Compared to the situation of some countries in Eastern Africa, this figure appears to be lower than in countries like Zimbabwe, Botswana, Egypt, and Algeria, while is higher than Uganda and neighbouring Tanzania.
The use of new technologies in a country like Kenya is a phenomenon which mainly involves young affluent and well-educated people  and which is concentrated in urban areas.
A national survey carried out by the Institute for Development Studies of the University of Nairobi helps build a picture that, though it is not exhaustive, surely provides a good indication on the use of new technologies in the country. This study analyses the availability, the accessibility, and the use of communication services in Kenya’s rural areas. In particular, it focuses on household-based services . The data it contains are of a special interest thanks to their uniqueness and their territorial scale, which allows to put our case study – which is located in a rural area of the country – into context.
The survey is based on a questionnaire that was administered to a sample of 1,139 families living in rural areas of the country. When we compare some data in the report with the few national data found in other sources, the impression is that rural areas have been depicted in a worse way than we would have expected. In any case, this study still is a precious source providing an invaluable overall picture.
This survey led to the collection of the following data concerning the computer as a tool: 42% of the sample know what a computer is and two thirds of them saw a computer for the first time in a shopping mall, a bank, or at the workplace; the remaining one third saw a PC for the first time in public premises such as schools, hospitals, and offices. Only as few as 9% of the population who knows what a PC is also has the basic knowledge required to use it (about four people out of ten).
Let us now analyse the reasons why these people have never used a computer. About 40% reported they were illiterate ; 25% declared they did not have enough knowledge in order to be able to use it; another 25% said that this tool was not readily available, that it could not be found easily and that is was too expensive; finally, 10% claimed they did not feel a need for it.
If we try to draw a profile of those who have access to the use of a computer, it appears that they are usually males aged under 55 (people over 65 have never used a computer) with a high educational level (83.3% of them have university education) and high income .
Let us now have a quick glance at the Internet. Less than one person out of ten (8.6%) knows what Internet is: 21% of them used it at least once (1.8 out of 100 people). Among those who have used it at least once, two thirds are able to access it unaided (1.2 out of 100 people). This survey contains another particularly interesting piece of information: little less than 12% of those who use the Net do it for educational purposes: that is 2 people out of 1000.

Table: DOI in Kenya

Source: ITU, 2006

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