Form One admission requirements including uniform, diversity in school and prestige of top institutions were some of the attractions that pushed Class 8 pupils to aim higher.
Of course, there were also village schools known as Harambee, but they were few. Both classes of schools served the community well.
That was the case until a recent but disturbing phenomenon happened: the clan schools.
Before the birth of clan-generated schools, freshmen were the proud achievers since the schools were brands that had produced luminaries.
They transformed the lives of the adolescents just as they were transitioning into adulthood. The school environment can either turn off or turn on a learner for ever, it is safe to conclude.
Over the past 20 years, the noble goal of enabling as many children as possible to acquire secondary school education and hence the Harambee or community schools has been maligned by selfish and egocentric thoughts where every clan fights for ‘our own school’.
The clan schools lack well-trained teachers, facilities, and the ambience revealing and inspiring achievement.
Other than the head-teacher, it is common to find the rest of the teachers are underqualified or not qualified at all. They are underpaid and resort to stealthily shuttling between schools to supplement income, hurting their performance and progress of the learner.
Chances are that these students graduate half-baked, yet we understand the need for quality education in transforming life.
It is not the will of any learner to simply pass through secondary school without being impacted to be suitable for a career.
Modern secondary school demands a well-equipped laboratory for various areas of study. For example, training a doctor should begin as early as at secondary school.
Whatsoever is done at that formational stage will go a long way in making the learner to overcome challenges in career path.
That is why a medical student should not be introduced to a lab at university. That is too late.
So, when clans insist on building these tiny schools, are they making the quacks problem worse? When quacks reign the people perish.
The challenges of the postmodern world require more than a hall for a school where the teacher talks endlessly while the learners take notes. No, a good school should be an environment for adventure, including the backgrounds of students. The daughter of a minister ought to share a class with that of a peasant.
Ali Mazrui rightly observed that an individual who only operates within his village has not experienced his fullest potential in social life. Better and distant school would do justice to these potentialities.
Sometimes, no proper need for the clan schools has been illustrated. How about expanding the carrying capacities of the established schools, equip them with text books and science kits, recruit more teachers, and ensure the necessary infrastructure was in place?
In this connection, educational authorities should arrest the mushrooming of these schools and refine policies for coming up with new schools.
The big picture is the creation of schools capable of competing fairly in the international market by producing top talent and thinkers who understand the demands of today and tomorrow.
