Kenya 1999 Population and Housing Census-Analytical Report on Education

Education remains one of the key indicators of human development. It imparts knowledge and skills for survival and develops a child or an individual to a total human being, ready to participate effectively in nation building. Primary education has therefore been declared by the United Nations as a human right which should be given to every child without discrimination Kenya has an education system commonly known as the 8-4-4 system. The system comprises of 8 years of primary education, 4 years of secondary education and a minimum of 4 years of university education Early childhood development (ECD), special education as well as technical and non-formal education is also included in the system. However, adult education and some vocational and technical institutions, which include youth polytechnic and institutes of technology, are under the Ministry of Labour and Human Resource Development (MOLHRD). The 8-4-4 system of education was introduced in 1985 to respond to the growing needs and challenges of socio-economic development of the country. The 1999 Kenya Population and Housing Census questionnaire contained three questions on education. These questions were limited to the population aged 5 years and above and solicited information about the status of school attendance, highest level of education reached and the highest level of education completed. However, the questionnaire did not capture information about literacy because during the census undertaking, people are usually asked to state whether they know how to read and write without being subjected to simple tests to ascertain their actual literacy status. This tends to give inaccurate and unreliable data.