KAKUMA REFUGEE CAMP) I hope this letter from one of the patriots will find you in proper health. It’s my prayer that this piece reaches my desired destination.
The purpose of this letter is to remind you of one of the important educational stuffs. I’m a secondary school teacher — and as a teacher who prepares students for the tertiary education, we (secondary School teachers) have encountered one of the major challenges in our educational system. I may not know whether the ministry is aware or not.
Honorable minister and the house at large, I regret saying this but I have to say it because it worths saying. Honorable minister, is your office aware that our educational system (secondary schools) can not produce some of the vital professions the country needs? Is your office aware that the subjects combination in secondary schools is equivocal? Is your office aware that the so-called science and arts sections are insufficient and depriving students of their potentials?
Let me be bold to say that our educational system can not produce a pilot because there is no ground where a student should combine Geography and Physics which are the core subjects in piloting. With our educational system, we (secondary teachers) will never produce a geologist because in my class of Chemistry, which is one of the subjects requires in Geology, I have never seen a student offering Geography — meaning the two subjects can’t be combined. With same goggles, if I look at Petroleum Engineering, which the country is now relying on, it’s the same scenario — our educational system does not allow students to combine Geography, Physics and Chemistry which are the core subjects for the course. Our educational system is always and only producing the following professions without doubt:
1. Doctors (Biology, Chemistry, Physics & Mathematics )
2. Lawyers (CRE, History, Citizenship & English Language)
3. Accountant (Principle of Account & Mathematics)
4. Engineering in its different forms (Physics, Additional Mathematics & Mathematics)
5. [The list doesn’t end here but there are some more)
Now my view is, why don’t the country revisit her educational system and make subjects combination in secondary schools be based on the careers students would like to offer? Why don’t the country demolish the issue of science and arts sections and instead, divide the students depending on their careers?
If this system is reviewed, we (secondary teachers) will produce the vital professions that the country needs — and our students will not flop if they are taken abroad for tertiary education.
It will be of great importance should this system be reviewed. This is not a criticism but as a teacher, I felt that this issue should be sorted.
Thanks for reading and I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely
Tr. Willy
Blue Nile Secondary School in Kakuma Refugee Camp.
[jonglajicngor@gmail.com]