During the second quarter of 2016, unrest in Kenyan secondary schools shocked the country. In a crisis parallel to the #FeesMustFall movement in South African universities, students at 300 boarding schools in Kenya burned their dormitories within a span of three months. The government appeared to be taken by a surprise, as the Deputy President William Ruto “called on religious leaders to offer spiritual guidance to school-going children in an effort to stem the growing tide of school unrest facing the country”. This enlisted a lengthy debate in the media on just what had gone wrong in Kenya’s education sector. Many found fault with the management of the schools, whereas others even blamed teachers over what they termed as sabotage of the unpopular new Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Dr Matiang’i. Acknowledging that there is a crisis in the education sector, I argue that the crisis is related to church–state partnership, a church ‘sponsorship’ role in Kenyan education that has worsened over the years.
Scholarly literatureson the subject of state and church relations in Kenyan education system can be categorised into two perspectives: educationist and historical perspectives. Earlier education scholars such as Sifuna (1990) Muhoho (1970), and Smith (1982) focused on churches’ influence on Kenya’s education policy development. More recent educationists such as Theodorah Mabeya, Judah Ndiku and J. Njino have addressed the matter from an education management perspective. In their 2010 article, “Role of church sponsor in management of secondary schools: Impact on academic performance and conflict concerns in Kenya”, they concluded that “church sponsors do meddle in school management and recommended that the Ministry of Education needs to review the sponsorship policy” (Mabeya, Ndiku, and Njino, 2010). Several others, most notably Aspinall (2004), Regnerus (2003), Kellagham (2007), Kimotho (2007) and Cheruiyot (2004), have been gracious to the church in their studies, arguing that performance is a product of good discipline, good management and excellent facilities wherein church sponsors have typically invested in these with persistence.
The historians, on the other hand, have focused on either the history of education in Kenya specifically (Bogonko, 1992; Waruta, 2000) or the history of specific church denomination (Barett, 1973; Baur, 1990). With the exception of Beatrice W. Churu and Philomena N. Mwaura’s work, “The Catholic Church and Schools in Kenya: A Historical Perspective on Education for Holistic Development”, the agenda of the Kenyan church in the interplay between state and church has not been critically studied. More importantly, a historical analysis of the critical role of the church in Kenya’s education system is notably missing in spite of its overwhelming presence and undeniable influence in the sector over the years. As opposed to Churu and Mwaura, who looked at a specific denomination, the Roman Catholic Church, I review of the ecumenical tradition in Kenya as represented by various European missionary establishments in the country. As such, the word ‘church’ is used here in its general sense except when otherwise indicated.
Historical Background
The earliest known Christian presence in Kenya is associated with Portuguese explorers, particularly Vasco da Gama, who arrived in 1498 and erected Cross Pillar at Malindi (Barrett et.al 1973: 20). Approximately half a century later, in 1542, St. Francis Xavier, the 16th-century Jesuit missionary stopped at Malindi town on his way to India and the Far East. An Augustinian monastery was started in Mombasa in 1564 under the protection of the Portuguese viceroy of India, and though a “Catholic community possibly numbering up to 600 was in place by 1597, by 1740, Portuguese missionaries had faded from the Kenyan coast, and no African Christian community survived”.
A more sustainable establishment of Christianity in East Africa came with the arrival of Johann Ludwig Krapf in 1832 in what Church historians have rightly termed as the third encounter of Africa with Christianity. This was followed by a series of mission stations and schools by various missionary societies. The first missionary school to be set up in Kenya was at Rabai near Mombasa in 1844 by the Church Missionary Society. The Holy Ghost Fathers were the first Catholic missionaries on Kenyan soil, coming in 1890 from their first East African base in Bagamoyo, Tanzania (Churu and Mwaura, 20: 3). They soon spread their foundations into the interior, setting up a station in Bura in 1891 (Bogonko 1992: 18) and opening up St. Austin’s in Nairobi in 1899, making it their headquarters (Baur 1994: 57). Peter Cameron Scott led the first group of Africa Inland Mission missionaries to Kenya in 1895 and as a result, the Africa Inland Church has since grown its school sponsorship to a total of 3,500 primary and secondary schools in Kenya.[2]
The word ‘sponsor’ has come to be synonymous with ‘church’ role in Kenyan education system. It was first used in section 8(1) of the Education Act of 1968 to describe “new role of the church in relation to schools formerly owned by missionaries and were transferred to a local authority” (Mabeya, Ndiku and Njino 2010: 32). Much later, in 2004, the Ministry of Education used it in the Board of Governors Order amplifying the usage of the education act of 1968 in section 11 by allowing the sponsor to propose the chairman of the school board who should be ratified by the Minister of Education (Republic of Kenya, 2004). John Kitala, the National Education Secretary for the African Inland Church, simplified it by saying that “being a sponsor really means that we founded this school” (Kitala 2015). Nevertheless, the usage and meaning of the word is deeply anchored in the historical development of church and state relations with regard to education policy in Kenya.[3]
In the diminishing role of ‘sponsorship’ and the unending contestation between state and church on the control of the school since 1909 to the present, there are three historical epochs: the sponsor as a donor/manager in education (1844-1963), the sponsor as a spiritual/moral authority in education (1964-2004), and the sponsor as an investor in education (2004-2017).
Sponsor as a Manager of Education (1844-1963)
Apparently, there were two trajectories in Kenyan education during the colonial era. First, there was a trajectory of secular government owned schools established after the racist ideology of Fraser’s Commission in 1909 with a view to provide technical skills for the settler and industrialization (Sheffield, 1973). These were few, largely targeted white and Asian communities and openly undermined the black capacity to engage as thus. Second, there was a more robust trajectory of religious schools run by the missionaries. Hence Mabeya, Ndiku and Njino (2010: 32) rightly noted that during the colonial period, “the clergy managed education in Kenya”. They built new schools, financed them, recruited and trained teachers, oversaw the implementation of the curriculum, taught catechism and approved new teaching approaches (Republic of Kenya, 1992). The state was supportive to Native missions and granted land as well as annual subsidies.
By 1920, the missionaries were increasingly committed to education not only to meet the demands of converts but also to forestall any attempts by the government to monopolize education (Sheffield, 1974).
During this period, church used education for narrow end of evangelism, winning individuals as opposed to transforming communities. Church content was so religious that it has been rightly called prayer houses with Religion as the fourth of Rs (reading, writing and arithmetic) taking center stage. Missionaries were focused on teaching the message of the gospel to the Africans, along with the minimum literacy skills to support this primary concern. Some technical education to usher the Africans into western civilization and economy and to enable the Africans to render services in the missionaries’ and settlers’ establishments was also regarded as important (Bogonko 1992: 45). Therefore, education during this period may be described as having been highly racist and religious.
Sponsor as a Spiritual and Moral Authority in Education (1964-2004)
At independence in 1964, the new government was well aware of the role played by church missionaries in the promotion of education. It noted that there was need for support from the Christian churches to shoulder the cost of running the education sector. However, it was also uncomfortable with the fact that the church had out shadowed all other stakeholders in the education sector. As a result, it set up the Kenya Education Commission (1964) whose report was sanctioned through the Education Act of 1968. The fact that it was headed Prof Simeon Ominde, without Church or Missionary representation and charged to look at education needs of Kenya was a clear message to the church that although it had done so much it was not welcome in the running of education national agenda. It was now clear as depicted by the spirit of the otherwise popularly known as Ominde report that, “education was now seen as a key factor in the building of the new nation, enhancing national unity, economic independence and cultural identity and pride” (Churu and Mwaura 4). The main recommendations of Ominde report were the assigned responsibility of education to the Kenyan nation.[4]
Consequently, The Education Act allowed an agreement to be made between the Ministry of Education and the sponsoring churches as regards the rights and responsibilities of the Church sponsor in management of schools in Kenya (Banr, 1990). In effect, this affected the management of public schools where churches that were managers of schools before became sponsors of such schools (Wachira and Kigotho, 2007). In other words, the church was dethroned from management of schools and instead was ascribed a totally different role, that of a sponsor. As Katola explains, “the churches were to maintain a ‘sponsorship’ role for these public schools that were nationalized after independence. This role does not imply any financial support, but rather gives the churches mechanisms by which they can oversee the development and success of the schools, including spiritual development of the students” (Kitala 2015). The churches did not foresee any problem with that symbiotic relationship considering that individual denominations were also undergoing nationalization process and therefore missionaries were handing over the leadership of the schools and assets to the local church leaders. The question of support was paramount. Young African nationalized churches could hardly bear the responsibility of a donor in the manner that white missionary agencies did. Therefore, the understanding that the government would send teachers, maintain the curriculum, and provide teaching materials whereas the church, as the sponsor, would offer spiritual guidance to the students and teachers was not aggressively resisted.
Basically, the Kenyan government attempted to remove religion and race from the core education system and made religion only a subject in the curriculum and distanced church from education management. It envisioned a nationalised Education. However, at the same time seeds of a new ideology were being introduced. The rich paid their kids into top performing schools. Although government introduced free primary school in 2002, deteriorating quality pushed even the lower middle class to private expensive schools. The top well performing schools were, of course, church sponsored schools. The church saw this as a lost opportunity to invest. Capitalizing on population trust in the institution, it invested in private schools. These are schools where the church is the sole proprietor.
Sponsor as an Investor in Education (2004 -2017)
In 2004, the government revised further the terms of sponsorship through an amendment of the Education Act. According to the Ministry of Education (Republic of Kenya, 2004) the Board of Governors Order amplifies section 11 which provided that the sponsor to propose the chairman of the school Board who should be ratified by the Minister of Education. Further, the Education Act also required that the sponsor prepare and recommend for approval by the Ministry the learning resources for religious education in sponsored schools (regulation, 5). In essence, the government further mutilated the rights of the church curtailing its responsibility to appoint principals and chairs of the boards. The number of its representation in the board was also reduced from 3 to 4. Katola’s lament could be seen as representative of AIC church as well as other denominations with similar large number of sponsored churches:
Yes, there are things we are not happy about. For example, we have been petitioning the government to recognize the need for chaplains in boarding schools. Ideally, the school board would hire a chaplain and pay him with the school budget. But, currently the Education Act makes it the sponsoring church’s responsibility to hire and pay any school chaplain. Since this is now law, any school that uses general funds to hire a chaplain is vulnerable to legal actions. The Act has also reduced the number of board members that the sponsors may appoint for the school. Previously, the sponsor was allowed to appoint four of the thirteen school board members. Now, the sponsor can only choose three members… Since our role has been diminished, school heads have become arrogant and run the schools with no accountability, sometimes even misusing funds. Corruption is a real problem. Our voice has been stifled and the effects are already being experienced. (Katola, 2016: 7-8).
The churches started to see the financial opportunity they lost and the fact that they are fast losing the control of the schools they once called theirs. Sponsorship started to taste bitter as the government fastened its grip of ownership and church censorship. As a result, the churches have resorted to privatizing some public schools as well as founding new private schools.
Conclusion
Why is the church involved in education? Over the years, the church in Kenya has missed the opportunity to champion transformation of society through education. During the colonial period, it failed to critique religious and racial education. During the post-colonial period, it has equally failed to critique class and commercialization of education. Instead, the church has used education for its own short-lived gains such as evangelization and financial benefits in order to fund church-related activities.
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Notes
[2] Elisabeth Stoddard, A Discussion with John Kitala, National Education Secretary for the African Inland Church, Kenya, April 9, 2015
[3] In 1844, the first missionary school in Kenya was set up by Church Missionary Society (CMS) at Rabai near Mombasa. In 1909, Fraser Commission outlined the colonial segregation policy for the Europeans, Asians and Africans that would determine its educational policy (Sheffield, 1973). In 1910, the colonial government established directorate of education for British Protectorate in Kenya (Muhoho 1970:71). In 1924, Phelps-Stokes Commission, set up in the early 1920s to assess the education of African people by English speaking Africa… in Kenya they recommended that education for Africans be left to the missionaries and government to increase its subsidies and supervise (Sifuna 1980: 57). In 1928 – 1930 – a visit of Monsiguor Athur Hinsey, a papal delegate to English Speaking Africa who recommended that Catholic missions focus on schools for future prospects of evangelization (Njoroge 1999: 234-235). In 2004, the Board of Governors Order sanctioned the role of the sponsor by amplifying section 11 of Education Act which allowed the sponsor to propose the chairman of the school Board who should be ratified by the Minister of Education. (Republic of Kenya, 2004, regulation, 5). In 2013, Education Act redefined ‘sponsorship’ weeding out the role of the church in appointment of school principals as well as reducing their representation in the Board of Governors from 4 to 3 out of 13.
[4] Education is a function of the Kenyan nation; it must foster a sense of nationhood and promote national unity. Education in Kenya must serve the people of Kenya and the needs of Kenya without discrimination. Our public schools are an instrument of the secular state, in which no religion is privileged, but must respect the religious convictions of all people. Education must promote social equality and remove divisions of race, tribe (sic) and religion. It must pay special attention to training in social obligation and responsibility.
Stephen Muoki Joshua is a senior lecturer at Pwani University (PU) in Kenya and a Research Fellow with the University of South Africa (Unisa).