Stats on the sorry state of Education in Garissa

Uneducated Ogadenis

It turns out that Kenya is run by insufficiently educated batshit civil servants. But more worrying is the fact that there are only four (yes, 4) Ogadenians with University degrees in the civil service making for a whopping 0.00000921% of the entire body according to an audit done by the government.

The main take away from the audit is that Kenya is a mafia state where cronyism and nepotism pervade all facets of life and commerce. This is illustrated by the sheer dominance of Kikuyus and Kalenjins in public sector empoyment and the cyclical rise in their hiring as the presidency changed hands between men with allegiance to these two tribes.

Garissa's  lack of  marquee schools, assiduous students and politicians eager to promote education makes me all the more skeptical that this trend will self correct in the long run. For all its new found 'wealth,' Garissa has never been synonymous with producing scholars, public thinkers or political heavy weights. Most influential Somali Kenyans mainly hail from Mandera and to a lesser extent Wajir.

We on other hand are famous for sending an illiterate snake-oil-salesman and a self-promoting gangster to parliament for the last three and half decades.

That said, what needs greater discussion is whether this points to a disinterest in education by Ogadenians or a disinclination towards seeking employment in the public sector? Is the representation of educated Garissians in the private sector greater than in the PSC? These are questions that need your input..(i.e the reader) but I personally have a hard time coming up with names of  successful businessmen whose roots are in Garissa and whose wealth is not tainted by corruption and crony capitalism.

Oh, and don't mention Mahat Kunow...He is illiterate and his philanthropy, while admirable, is deeply flawed because it entirely focuses on missionary style Madrassas and completely sidelines formal education.

Hijab, latest pawn in Culture War

  Apparently Kenya High has barred its Muslim students from wearing hijabs to foster a sense of equality and uniformity in its dress code. Forgive the logical inconsistency in the previous sentence but does this mean in the spirit of separation of State and Church, the school will stop teaching CRE, ban the wearing of crosses, bibles, christian literature and all forms of  outward expression of faith? My guess is no. This is purely intolerance masquerading as secularism. Hopefully the courts will strike down this blatant interference with students' freedom.

Here is an excerpt of The Daily Nation's report:

Muslim students should not be allowed to wear hijab (head scarf) to school for the sake of equality, a court has been told.

A school, which has been sued by Muslim parents for stopping students from wearing head scarves, defended its decision saying it did not, in any way, discriminate against the rights of the students.Kenya High School said school uniforms were critical in promoting discipline in the student community.“If the court allows the Muslim students to wear head scarves, this will open a can of worms for all manner of demands for wearing of ‘religious’ regalia such as turbans, buibui, ornaments and dreadlocks,” the school said in an affidavit sworn by the board of governors secretary Rosemary Saina.The school’s response arose out of a case filed against it by Mrs Anisa Bashir. She sued the school on behalf of her daughter and 11 others over the decision by the institution to stop the students from wearing hijabs.
The students and their parents want the court to quash the school’s decision.Also sought is an order to bar the school from interfering with the rights of Muslim students to wear hijab as a form of expression and manifestation of their rights.They argued the school’s admission policy was also unlawful as it directly discriminated against them on religious and cultural grounds.The school responded that it had done everything within its powers to ensure Muslim students were catered for.The school said it had done this by ensuring its washrooms were equipped with water bottles for the convenience of Muslims.It also said it had provided prayer rooms for Muslims and arranged for an Islamic preacher to attend to their spiritual needs once a week.On Tuesday, High Court judge Daniel Musinga directed the parties in the matter to go for mention on July 4. 

KNUT Elelctions, Garissa Branch

 Good Evening Faithful readers.I assume many of you were not aware of the KNUT Election that was held today in Garissa.

Thanks to tips from readers, we learnt that Atosh was elected KNUT Secretary  in a tense election where emotions threatened to boil over. Runner up Nur aka Noorkey has alleged that the election was neither free nor fair.

As ever, allegation of irregularities are commonly thrown around by losers without any substantiation. We here at Garissa City Blog wish Mr. Atosh all the best as he takes the helm here in Gsa.

Garissa High Upgraded to a National School

Hey Garissans! Can I have everyone's attention? I've got a big announcement to make here. Call in Caliyow and halima, I don't want them to miss this.

In Garissa, you may have heard, we are big fans of hand-outs and undeserved upgrades. So understandably we are over-joyed by the news that our most famous school is getting upgraded to "national" status. And that's not the end of this great piece of news. The cherry on top of the awesomeness that is this cake : the school gets Sh. 25M to help in upgrading its facilities.

Financially, this has been a windfall year for Garissa High. The school has amassed about Sh. 30 million from the Government and Unicef. Remember, the school was also designated as a sports talent nurturing academy. That designation came with close to Sh. 5 million in backing!

Reality


Lets all remember that Garissa High does not deserve this promotion. Its academically inferior to most schools in other parts of the country and that has nothing to do with marginalization or socio-economic disparities.

Majority of students in the school are either self entitled brats or fatalistic stoners who do not work hard for anything. The Principle is a perpetual absentee administrator with political ambitions and a self-aggrandizing persona. The parents do not give a rat's ass about how the school is run. Clearly thats not a national school culture.

If Garissa high wants to be welcomed into a league that includes Starehe Boys & Alliance High, the schools laissez faire attitude toward failure and mediocrity has to be shed. In its place should come selectivity and rigorous curriculum. 

The Garissa High School Debacle

The efforts by Garissa County's asinine political elite to transform our city into some hegemony controlled by afew exclusive families continues apace.

Their campaign to destroy Garissa's egalitarian political normativity

has claimed one more victim in Principal Harun.

Its a political conspiracy of Oedipal nature...a case of kill the baby in its cradle before it kills its papa. Just because the man had the audacity to toy around with the idea of running for the Governor's seat, he is being punished with a transfer to Mosoriot Teachers Training College.

Don't get me wrong! I don't believe Harun Mohamed is a great educator or principal for that matter. I'm also not of the persuasion that Garissa High School is a great school or even the best in NEP {That honour goes to Mandera Sec which took 35% of all position in the TOP 100 and 15 of the top 25} but his political ambitions shouldn't mean an imminent transfer from a place where he is well liked and appreciated as the demo illustrated.

This's a clear case of political paranoia meshed with unchecked ego and it goes on to show how the powers that be are full of machinations aimed at screwing the public.

That's what our exiguous choice of leaders gets us but it doesn't mean we have to put up with it.

Nairobi Star: Garissa County Teens Elect Their Governor

 The national council for children will provide an opportunity for teenagers to debate and take part in decision that affect their lives, according to a children's officer.
Garissa children's officer Bishar Abdullahi said the forum will give children a chance directly take part in issues that have an impact on their lives.
He made the statement in Garissa during the election of Garissa County governor, deputy governor and regional speaker at the weekend. Children from Fafi, Ijara and Lagdera attended the election meeting.


He said: "The Kenya Children's Assembly will enhance child participation in matters affecting them and act as a medium to articulate the various issues raised by children, especially in matters concerning education, health, protection from violence, abuse, exploitation and HIV/AIDS."


He gave the example of Northeastern province where FGM is a common practice. Children will now get a chanto the young ones saying that because they had not been given a forum to talk about it, it was becoming difficult to weed it out.


He went on:"It cannot get any better for you than this, for once you have the opportunity to interact with your colleagues from other parts of the country and share with them your experiences, not forgetting that you will have the opportunity to directly interact with your leaders and tell them your problems." He challenged the children to come up with idead that could be implemented to make society a better place for all.
Newly-elected 15-year-old governor Khadija Jibril, a Form Two student in Ummu-Salama Secondary School, said the children's council was long overdue and that it would go along way in empowering children with knowledge and skills on rights and responsibilities.


The concept of children assemblies aims at inculcating in children principles of participation critical in promotion, inclusion, equality and development of democratic values in children. Every county will have its representatives in the national assembly.

Disclaimer: Post taken verbatim from The Nairobi Star. The views expressed here in do not reflect the editorial view of GCB.

Government Plan to turn GTTC into University Opposed

   Board members of the Garissa Teachers Training College made public their opposition to Ministry of Education plans to upgrade the college into a full fledged university. The reason given for their opposition is that such an upgrade will lead to shortages in Primary School teachers in Garissa.

 I do not wish to cast aspersions on the Board's decision without knowing the reasoning behind their position but its none the less inexplicable. As a region, we've always complained about the lack of universities and now that the government has decided to do something about it, we oppose it?

  It's a lot easier to upgrade an operational college with facilities to a University than break ground on a new one. At the risk of getting accused of being overly simplistic, I would suggest that we do not turn this opportunity down.


You can read the full story here

In other news, alhamdullilah it rained in Garissa today!

Worst High School's in Kenya

  Well, worst, isn't strong enough in this case. Its an indication of how bad things are, education wise, in this country. Some 60%  (213.438) of all candidates in last year's KCSE scored below a C-. Given the fact that the minimum acceptable grade to get into University is a C+, its not wrong to assume that 70% of all candidates who sat the test wouldn't even get accepted to a university. Not mention the fact that the curriculum is outdated, imparts no knowledge and doesn't prepare students for the rigours of post-secondary education but thats another blogpost.

You might be surprised to learn that most of the worst high schools in the country lie outside of NEP in places that are considered to have better resources. Out of the worst 50 schools in Kenya, Nyanza contributed 17, central had 10, 7 from Eastern, Coast had 6 and 5 from Nairobi. The Rift Valley had two schools in this category while NEP had just one school.

St. Marks High School of Central is officially the worst school in Kenya boasting an average of 1.58. Out of its 76 candidates, 39 scored E, 29 D- & 7D

Kyulu Sec of Eastern had a mean score of 1.64 with 10 E

Our very own Bute Girls rounded up the top 3 with 22E & 13D-

Guru Nanak of Eastleigh Nairobi, a profiteering Indian owned sham of a school that defrauds Somalis was ranked fourth with a mean score of 1.8 and a massive 18 E's. This school is well known to most of Garissians because of a lot of our boys & girls go there.

While this list does not provide enough information to form an educated opinion since its mainly composed of rudimentary outliers, I was a bit surprised  by the fact that NEP didn't feature prominently in this list. My deduction is that we have very few high schools per capita compared to other places and  that our weakest students are dropped off in lower grades. Furthermore, this indicates the lazy conflation that NEPians are OK with mediocrity might after all have some truth to it.

   Stories gleaned off from the Saturday Nation.

NEP's KCSE 2010 Results

  Recently released KCSE results for last year continue to depict the sorry state of the education sector in NEP with huge disparities between the province and the rest of the country. Furthermore, girls continue to lag behind boys at a disproportionate level, with this year registering only five girls in the top 100 positions compared to KCPE where there were at least 34 girls.
  While there are socio-economic reasons for the gross disparities between NEP & the rest of Kenya, its not fair to blame everything on these causalities. It will not be unjust if one said that students who choose to study Arabic, IRE & History should be expected to score an A in those subjects. That will boost their average by about 36 points. One of the reasons for us lagging behind other places is due to the current cadre of students who are nothing more than a bunch of disengaged, self entitled brats. Heavy drug abuse, disregard for teachers and a culture of illiteracy also play a role. This serves to alienate the very few students who are willing to work hard for their good grades and the even fewer teachers who are sincerely trying to impart knowledge.

I think its way beyond time for some soul searching & self flagellation. Time and again, students from NEP who go to national schools and national Universities perform at par with their classmates despite their background. That said, I would recommend to any parent or adult who has a child/younger brother/sister in school to read "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom,"  a book that  vividly describes the successes of a culture that puts a lot of emphasis on education and sees it as the only ticket to a better future. It's either that or we swap our schools for Madrassa's because they are certainly not generating any net value.

 I was willing to cut the primary kids some slack because they performed relatively better than their secondary counterparts but all in all, this is a disgrace.

 The top 10 candidates in the province were:

 Abdow Mohamed Osman (79.2)                                 Garissa High

 ABDIRAHMAN IBRAHIM ALI (78.9)                      Mandera Sec

 AHMED DEKOW MOHAMED  (                             Young Muslim

 HASSAN MOHAMED FARAH                                  Mandera Sec

 SULEIMAN BASHIR SALAH                                     Young Muslim

 MOHAMED ALI DAGOL                                          Mandera Sec

 MOHAMUD MUHUMED                                            Garissa High

ADEN ABDI DIIS                                                       Young Muslim

MOHAMUD IBRAHIM                                                Mandera Sec

ABDISHAKUR ABDISALAN                                      Mandera Sec

The best girl in the province was Raha Abdi Salah of NEP Girls ranked overall at position 22.
Mandera Sec School took 35% of all positions in the top 100 province wide.
Garissa High & Mandera Sec made up about 59% of all students in the top 100.

As soon as I get the time, I'll post the full rankings.

UPDATE





KCSE 2010

What is wrong with our Youth?

 What is wrong with our youth? They seem to be happy with their position of irrelevance and actually seem to thrive on it. The lack of ambition on our streets is depressing and besmirching of our honour . Everyday more and more of our vaunted future leaders join the ranks of dropouts, drug addicts and live-at-home 25 year olds. The best of what Garissa produces are those who dream of leaving Kenya for 'greener pastures' elsewhere (read; Europe & North America).

This is a scathing indictment of a culture that does not place any value on academic success, celebrates mediocrity and is hopelessly divided by the most primordial of clan loyalties.While the dynamics at work in Garissa are similar to those in the broader region, our contentment with failure is peculiar and perilous. Improvisation, can-do-demeanour and  an aggressive entrepreneurial spirit used to be an integral part of the collective Somali psyche. One didn't need to have a fancy degree to start a successful business. Our parents did it without ever knowing how to balance a financial sheet. We have no excuse not to. Most of the claustrophobic stalls in "Suuq Mugdi" are owned by foreigners. The construction industry imports labour from elsewhere because we are too classy to do such menial work. Clerical jobs are all held by senile retirees and our political system is the preserve of a few families.

This society will not change until its youth wake up from this prolonged sleep. Garissa's youth can do better, NEP's youth can achieve much more. The real challenge we face today is how to revitalise and empower our youth. Hope, self reliance, private enterprise and pursuit of happiness should be the new paradigm that predominates in Somali Kenya. Waiting for others to uplift us out of our current predicament will never materialize. So to you, the youth of Garissa, being apolitical, sitting around waiting for Dualle to get you a job or a ticket to Europe is delusional. Think of how you can replace him or hold his feet to  fire.

Good Luck.

KCPE and The Poverty Trap

This week the results of last year's KCPE exams were released and as expected private schools dominated  top positions all over Kenya.
 Its such a shame that in 2010 a child's destiny is sealed by an examination that only serves to reproduce the existing class system in Kenya. The fact that Ministry of Education is bent on scuttling education reform when its not busy stealing FPE money is an indication that this nation is yet to realise the importance of education as a social class delineation busting force.
  Candidates come from diverse economic and social backgrounds. This fact is completely ignored in form one selection. The lack of quota system gives an edge to the upper echelons of society that can afford to send their kids to private schools which are equipped with proper facilities and personnel. It completely ignores vital factoids such as the performance of a student within the locality in which he was schooled and across his 8 years of primary education  when deciding his fate.
  Its pertinent that we change this archaic convoluted method . The paradox of the new Kenyan meritocracy is that its so far tilted in the favour of those that have resources and away from the poor. NEP and other places need to scrutinize this bias. Its despicable that private schools have a tight grip on top positions in the country and end up producing  future leaders, lawyers and purveyors of justice. We are only helping create a new aristocracy that is so out of touch with the pedestrian reality of the average person's life.

North Eastern Province KCPE Rresults

The best performing schools in Garissa this year were privately owned. Many of the city's public schools under-performed and big names like Garissa Primary were not even represented in the TOP 100. For another year the disparity between NEP and the rest of the country widened with NEP lacking representation in the TOP 100 nationally. However, the best candidate nationally beat his NEP counterpart by a meager 22 points which is way less than previous years. This disparity seems to be re-enforced by socio-economic conditions. Many of our schools lack the resources to compete on a national stage but it should be noted that the province and especially Garissa has been improving the quality and provision of education year after year since 2003.
Should current trends continue, I have no doubt that private schools in Garissa will go a long way in equalizing the socio-economic scale in the country. The sad thing is, many parents in the province cannot afford to send their Kids to these elite-I use the word liberally-schools. MPs should use CDF money to help public schools in hiring quality teachers and closing the gap. I wonder why most civic leaders, MPs and parents haven't realized the importance of education in correcting the archaic economic hierarchy that defines this nation. Its time our MPs woke up from sleep and worked to correct this glaring disparity. Education needs serious investment and if the government is not going to provide it, we as a whole should. Its time to start working from a blueprint instead of staggering towards failure.
Finally, a bit of good news, gender disparity in NEP seems to be slightly on the decline with girls taking up 33% of the top 100 positions.



KCPE

Education Development Centre's Garissa Youth Program (Courtesy of Karl Grobl)

Sura Ya Kazi: Cheery, Chatty and Well Patterned. 

 Yeah...We are self employed. Not pirates!!

 Keen Listeners. Dream students!

 And there was time for the ladies to share Ideas

 There is always time for some Football.  He is a good jugular/dribbler (whichever is the correct terminology here)

G-Youth Head office

Faces from EDC

 Those that Studied well got Internships ;)

The Problem With NEP

By  Aden Sh-abdullahi Yunis 

We have spent the last 45 years blaming politicians and lamenting about marginalization without addressing the root causes or debating the possible solutions. We have consistently elected the same breed of politicians while the province sank deeper and deeper into political, economic and social miseries. The province is so predictable that we would trail in sports, drama, science congress competition and even in population census. These pathetic scenarios are exaggerated by natural calamities such as heat, low rainfalls and rugged terrains. 

In the education sector, the three old districts (include the newly created)compete at the bottom during KCPE and KCSE results. These is because the performances of our children are being doctored by among others the absence of teachers and teaching aids. Over the years, We have learnt that Kenya's leading student's trail behind our children once they attend same classes in public universities. (No malice intended) 

Healthcare is a nightmare that beats all logics. Dispensaries are either non-existent or ill-equiped, unmanned and so dispersed that basic treatable diseases are the leading cause of death in NEP. Awareness is a non-existent luxury and you can guess the fate of a heart attack patient in a province where burials are conducted within minutes of death.... See More 

There are no reasons why tarmac roads are extended to all the country's border points except North Eastern province. This is a deliberate economic sabotage. It is a folly that tarmac roads are extended to Mombasa, Namanga, Narok, Busia, Lokichoggio and not in the easier terrains of Nep. We are the only solutions to our problems. We have the rights to publicise these issues or tolerate the words silently.I beleive Nep is capable of reaching greater goals. 

We can strenghthen our politicians by setting goals and holding them accountable, by making sure both constituents and politicians appreciate the power of the vote. We can differ on issues and personalities but we will always have common interests and middle grounds. We can bet that all interested parties would prefer better infrastructure, more hospitals and educational institutions, lower taxes and a constitution that gives power back to the people. To achieve these goals, we should encourage a communal approach to the challenges, add up ideas soberly and set the foundation for a better, well administered, politically mature North Eastern province. 

The challenges facing the province today can be solved by awareness campaigns. Some might require time and effort from our generation for the betterment of our successors. CONSIDER THESE QUESTIONS: 

Why do NEP residents go to the police instead of the courts when someone is arrested?
Why do we pay fines that are not court-ordered and without receipts? 
Why do we break in ululations when a District commissioner promises to address power outages 
Why shouldn't the KPLC boss do his job? 
If NEP records the lowest crime every year, Why are we leading in police arrests? 
Why is it that only 2% of those arrested reach the court? 
Why are our MPs inaccessible after elections? 
Can our Gov't afford a tarmac road from Isiolo to Moyale(Eastern)? Hulugho to Mandera? 
Can we afford one public university in Nep? JUST ONE! 
Why is media-coverage restricted in Nep and why do we have to buy papers that do not cover our pleas? 

A college degree and finding a middle class job in the city will not change Nep. Our elites must be politically active and negotiate for each vote that the Gov't gets from Nep. We should create pressure groups to keep MPs on the run and deny them a chance to sleep in parliament. Peaceful masses should camp at parliamentarians doors in the wee hours of the morning! What do you think?