By Lenah Bosibori
Adult education in Kenya has progressed significantly reflecting the country’s promise to improve literacy rates and provide educational opportunities for all age groups. Despite the efforts put in place by both the government and NGOs, many challenges persist hindering the delivery of programs.
In a recent convening of the Civil Society Organizations in Nairobi, Salome Terah Nairobi County Adult Education Coordinator said that adult learning in the country has faced several challenges that have affected smooth learning.
“We are faced with so many challenges ranging from shared class rooms with school going learners, this makes adult learners uncomfortable leading to discrimination,” said Terah during an interview.
Adult learning is a program based at the Ministry of Education under basic education, it offers a second chance to people who never managed to get an education and it also caters to out-of-school youths, children, marginalized and the elderly.
“We offer five programs namely Basic Literacy for those who never went to school, Continuing Education for those who dropped out at any level, Post Literacy education also to build up to those who never went to any school so that they will be able to continue, Community Empowerment programs and Community Learning projects,” adds Terah.
She further adds that funding and staffing has been another major challenge facing adult learning. “We don’t really get enough funding but we are hoping the ministry is going to look into that and even our staffing levels are so low,” she says.
“We are asking if other organizations could come on board because adult education is a shared responsibility, if we have organizations that can come and work with us, we will not be having a big gap,” reiterates Terah.
In 2017, the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) was launched to replace the traditional 8–4–4 system introduced by President Moi in 1985. According to Terah the system has so far been successful but somehow not catering for those who dropped out of school.
Data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that total enrolment of adult education learners dropped by 9.5 per cent from 138,628 in 2022 to 125,402 in 2023. Female adult learners accounted for 63.1 per cent of the total enrollment of adult learners in 2023.
Nairobi City recorded the highest enrolment of adult education learners during the review period, followed by Turkana, Nandi, Kitui and Mandera counties. Economic-Survey. 2024 pdf
Terah adds that adult learning can deliver the Kenya Intermediate Level Education Assessment (KILEA) for those who did not do the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) because it has been faced out.
Basic Needs That Adult Learners Miss
Terah notes that health and education rights for adult learners are being hindered because they are not well-educated and cannot access the services they require. “They are also socially disadvantaged because of their level of education and economically disadvantaged,” she notes.
“In adult education, we don’t follow the school calendar like the formal schools, this is because adults come to school when they are able and most of the time you find classes running in the afternoon,” she adds.
Due to inaccessibility of their own facilities, they are forced to suspend lessons when disasters come like the floods experienced in May.
“Due to floods, the schools were suspended, so we were unable to open because we couldn’t access facilities of our own, and also where we use facilities like halls and churches, we are being forced to pay,” she says.
School furniture is another challenge as the ones offered are unsuitable for adults. “In primary schools, we are given the Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) classes and class one making learners uncomfortable,” she notes.
Further she adds that the level of stigma among the communities where adult learners come from is high. “When they go back into those communities, they are parents in the community, there is stigmatization, it is really affecting us. The reason we are requesting for each Sub- County can start by having a community learning center where these parents can learn and do their own activities,” she notes.
Allana Kembabazi coordinator of Social and Economic Rights urges African governments to provide quality basics for the people as they are the taxpayers.
“It is unacceptable that people are lacking basics and yet they are paying taxes, we demand quality and available public services to all.” She noted. “Governments can stop corruption and illicit financial flows that are making us lose a lot of money and stop giving tax exemptions to foreign companies and channel the money to quality healthcare and education,” she adds.