When I was 17, Just after highschool, I got a job as an Untrained Teacher, popularly known as a UT in my home Village. Having been just a little over 5 years from this system, i was a Math, Science and English teacher for the upper classes, 4-8. Occasionally i would stand in for the Social Studies teacher but i never dared return a favor to the Swahili teachers, it still is a whole load messed up today. The kids called me 'Madam', they still do today when they see me today.
You must be thinking there is something wrong with that 1st paragraph, especially the 'Swahili' part, so ill go ahead and talk about that 1st.
Both in Primary and Secondary School in the Kenyan System, the 'Disk' is something we are all very well aware of. We are taught to communicate more in English and nothing but English unless its during the Kiswahili class lesson or home for your mother tongue. Yes, this has made us international speakers and a fluent British colony but then can you communicate with the common Mwananchi? Speaking for myself, am very very bad at my Swahili and my English ticks but its something i have grown to be very ashamed of! (am doing something about it though.)
Most of us have made fun of The David Rudisha Kiwi advertisement when he says, "fiatu fyangu finapongara", ok, you are thinking this is funny, but ask yourself, how you would say that same statement? You would probably be like, 'njumu za mine zinaposhine..' one thing am thankful for is, my sheng sucks big time!
When the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel was in the country about a month ago, Kenyans were ranting that she spoke in German much as she can speak English and i remember asking someone if they could go to Germany and speak in Swahili as fluently as she did her German, I know our president cant and our ministers cant do a media briefing in swahili let alone answer questions addressed to them in Swahili. We have become the internationals. This is the reason why i think Google's localization efforts are not being taken kindly, no one wants our national language, we dint grow up with it...
When i was in primary school, at least till 7th grade, we were taught subjects like Music, Agriculture, Art and Craft, Business Education and HomeScience. At class 4, i knew what mezzo forte was and i could sing the National Anthem and loyalty pledge like my 4th name. The keys of the piano were 2nd nature to me and the likes of C# were at the finger tips. At class 2 we had a school farm that used to give each student two cobs of maize and some tomatoes at the end of 2nd term (Nyamira DEB primary school). This was run by students in classes 6-8. At class 4 we recycled soap and made new pieces of soap in groups that we proudly took home. At class 6 we recycled news papers and made Paper Mache sculptures. At class 7 we formed a small company and used lessons we knew about profit and loss, of cause with some mathematics, at class 3 we had small farms at the back of the class and i knew about soil erosion and conservation from my agriculture classes. I was a public speaker at class 4-6 to provincial level and here i was able to combine the various skills i had to argue speech topics. At class 7 i was in dramma and our Narrative was the best performing that year at national levels, the year 2000
At class 8 we could only learn Math, English, Kiswahili (which was prohibited to be spoken), science and Social Studies. The rest of the subjects were scrapped off. This is the system today. In highschool, a few of us studied Art and Design, Music or Agriculture.
What am i talking about? is this about me again? No! Am talking about the famine situation and vision 2030! I told a friend yesterday that Kenya is in a position of never going back to the food security that we had years ago and the main reason as he put it, we are teaching Presidents and Ministers and Engineers and Pilots and NO FARMERS! You have probably seen the high rise buildings in the city and the good roads and the as someone put it ' idiotic growing middle class '. Everyone is taking whatever little piece of land they have to build houses, the government is taking it to build roads.
The other day on twitter someone had a picture of their son playing a piano and he said that his son could play the blues harp, a guitar and the sax. Very impressive ha! This is what you could get in an international school and with good education, where children are given options to choose from and to perfect their skills and what they are good at. The other day Alfred Mutua, MUCH AS HE IS A LOOSE SPEAKER, said only 1 out of 10 kenyans can ACTUALLY SWIM, i fall in the 9 *hangs head in shame*, we all heckled at him. A friend from HILLCREST, yes the international school told me THE HIGHEST PAID TEACHER, is the SWIMMING INSTRUCTOR. Yes, the Physics and Math teachers may be close by but the MUSIC TEACHER beats them too.
I once asked a friend's son, who is in an international school what he would like to be when he grows up and he said a policeman or a football player. As i was babysitting for my American friend the other day, i asked one of the daughters what she would like to be when she grows up and she grows up and she said a cook and an artist. Today, go ask a Kenyan Kid, ok ask 10 just to be sure, what they would like to be when they grow up. As Swaleh Mdoe would say, Yatafakari hayo!
I might know the important peoples in society but i am in no position to make the regulations about how we run this country but i know for sure that I can very well point out what i feel needs to be done to achieve greater heights, beat drought, improve the education system, build professionals of all sorts including musicians, artists, hotel chains, instrumentalists and NOT JUST Presidents, Engineers, etc coz to the honest, they are not the only people who would run this country towards VISION2030.
You must be thinking there is something wrong with that 1st paragraph, especially the 'Swahili' part, so ill go ahead and talk about that 1st.
Both in Primary and Secondary School in the Kenyan System, the 'Disk' is something we are all very well aware of. We are taught to communicate more in English and nothing but English unless its during the Kiswahili class lesson or home for your mother tongue. Yes, this has made us international speakers and a fluent British colony but then can you communicate with the common Mwananchi? Speaking for myself, am very very bad at my Swahili and my English ticks but its something i have grown to be very ashamed of! (am doing something about it though.)
Most of us have made fun of The David Rudisha Kiwi advertisement when he says, "fiatu fyangu finapongara", ok, you are thinking this is funny, but ask yourself, how you would say that same statement? You would probably be like, 'njumu za mine zinaposhine..' one thing am thankful for is, my sheng sucks big time!
When the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel was in the country about a month ago, Kenyans were ranting that she spoke in German much as she can speak English and i remember asking someone if they could go to Germany and speak in Swahili as fluently as she did her German, I know our president cant and our ministers cant do a media briefing in swahili let alone answer questions addressed to them in Swahili. We have become the internationals. This is the reason why i think Google's localization efforts are not being taken kindly, no one wants our national language, we dint grow up with it...
When i was in primary school, at least till 7th grade, we were taught subjects like Music, Agriculture, Art and Craft, Business Education and HomeScience. At class 4, i knew what mezzo forte was and i could sing the National Anthem and loyalty pledge like my 4th name. The keys of the piano were 2nd nature to me and the likes of C# were at the finger tips. At class 2 we had a school farm that used to give each student two cobs of maize and some tomatoes at the end of 2nd term (Nyamira DEB primary school). This was run by students in classes 6-8. At class 4 we recycled soap and made new pieces of soap in groups that we proudly took home. At class 6 we recycled news papers and made Paper Mache sculptures. At class 7 we formed a small company and used lessons we knew about profit and loss, of cause with some mathematics, at class 3 we had small farms at the back of the class and i knew about soil erosion and conservation from my agriculture classes. I was a public speaker at class 4-6 to provincial level and here i was able to combine the various skills i had to argue speech topics. At class 7 i was in dramma and our Narrative was the best performing that year at national levels, the year 2000
At class 8 we could only learn Math, English, Kiswahili (which was prohibited to be spoken), science and Social Studies. The rest of the subjects were scrapped off. This is the system today. In highschool, a few of us studied Art and Design, Music or Agriculture.
What am i talking about? is this about me again? No! Am talking about the famine situation and vision 2030! I told a friend yesterday that Kenya is in a position of never going back to the food security that we had years ago and the main reason as he put it, we are teaching Presidents and Ministers and Engineers and Pilots and NO FARMERS! You have probably seen the high rise buildings in the city and the good roads and the as someone put it ' idiotic growing middle class '. Everyone is taking whatever little piece of land they have to build houses, the government is taking it to build roads.
The other day on twitter someone had a picture of their son playing a piano and he said that his son could play the blues harp, a guitar and the sax. Very impressive ha! This is what you could get in an international school and with good education, where children are given options to choose from and to perfect their skills and what they are good at. The other day Alfred Mutua, MUCH AS HE IS A LOOSE SPEAKER, said only 1 out of 10 kenyans can ACTUALLY SWIM, i fall in the 9 *hangs head in shame*, we all heckled at him. A friend from HILLCREST, yes the international school told me THE HIGHEST PAID TEACHER, is the SWIMMING INSTRUCTOR. Yes, the Physics and Math teachers may be close by but the MUSIC TEACHER beats them too.
I once asked a friend's son, who is in an international school what he would like to be when he grows up and he said a policeman or a football player. As i was babysitting for my American friend the other day, i asked one of the daughters what she would like to be when she grows up and she grows up and she said a cook and an artist. Today, go ask a Kenyan Kid, ok ask 10 just to be sure, what they would like to be when they grow up. As Swaleh Mdoe would say, Yatafakari hayo!
I might know the important peoples in society but i am in no position to make the regulations about how we run this country but i know for sure that I can very well point out what i feel needs to be done to achieve greater heights, beat drought, improve the education system, build professionals of all sorts including musicians, artists, hotel chains, instrumentalists and NOT JUST Presidents, Engineers, etc coz to the honest, they are not the only people who would run this country towards VISION2030.
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