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Education has been a focus area since the liberation of
the country. Large investments have been made for the
country's children and young people under the motto
harambee, i.e. to jointly load. Until 1984, the
educational system was very similar to the British one. The
educational reform this year was intended to establish an
education that is more relevant to the people of the country
with greater emphasis on vocational education. See TOPSCHOOLSINTHEUSA for TOEFL, ACT, SAT testing locations and high school codes in Kenya.
The elementary school is 8 years old, free and compulsory
from the children is 6 years. The high school is 4 years
old. In 2000/01, approx. 69% of children of relevant age in
primary school, and 23% in high school. There are major
regional differences in the supply, and the dropout rate is
large. There are 5 state and several private universities.
UNESCO calculates the proportion of adult illiterates at
approx. 17% (2000) of the population.
Resistance and rebellion
The opposition to colonial rule and the occupation of
Kenya's lands is as old as the colonial rule itself. After
the resistance to the conquest was wiped out with weapons,
new movements emerged in the 1920s. Particular attention was
paid to the lack of land, forced labor and the ban on coffee
cultivation. In 1944, the Kenya African Union (KAU) was
established in defense of the Kikuyu's interests. Under the
leadership of Nationalist leader Jomo Kenyatta, it conducted
strikes, peasant marches and mass demonstrations. After
1945, conditions were further tightened. A radicalized trade
union movement carried out several strikes, and the
deterioration in the countryside provided the basis for the
great revolt - called "Mau Mau". The revolt turned into
Western mass mediamanufactured as "a bloody tribal war with
barbaric terror." Some historians have - after Kenya gained
independence - seen it as a nationalist struggle for
self-government. However, it is more natural to perceive the
property and working conditions in agriculture as the
immediate cause.
In the reserves, the situation was characterized by the
lack of land, ecological deterioration and social
degradation. Population increased as food production
declined. Some Africans also settled, controlling land and
local positions of power through alliance with the colonial
authorities. The European farmers were focusing on
mechanization and economies of scale, and tens of thousands
of Africans on labor and domestic contracts were terminated
or their conditions severely worsened.
At the same time, there was a rebel mood among militant
groups within the Nairobi proletariat, and this triggered a
rebellion, which was, however, poorly prepared and
organized. Despite heroic guerrilla fighting in the woods,
the revolt was crushed by the British military apparatus -
with the support of African "loyalists". The official loss
figures show the nature of a social settlement between
landless Kikuyu and wealthier collaborators: A total of
about 12,000 rebels, 2,000 African "loyalists" and approx.
100 Europeans (32 civilians) were killed. More than 75,000
Africans were interned in concentration camps. These figures
are in stark contrast to the flow of reports of African
"terror" flowing to Europe, supplemented by horror stories
from settlers. In the Cold War, not much alternative
information was available, and there was no solidarity
movement with those who fought against colonialism. (See
also Decolonization ).
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