Changing the course: equity effects and institutional risk amid policy shift in higher education financing in Kenya

Reform in higher education financing in Kenya has been occasioned by both endogenous and exogenous variables. Internal pressures of a declining economy, rapid demographic growth and increased inter-and intra-sectoral competition for scare financial resources, couple with external neo-liberal doctrine championed by global donors like the World Bank have resulted in a new market-competitive policy of financing higher education. This paper analyzes the equity and risk effects of the new policy for the main stakeholders, namely students, academics and institutions themselves. The paper contends that the policy shift has had a significant effect on equity just as it has introduced universities to risks through engagement in academic capitalism with its emphasis on marketization of university programs and services. The paper concludes with suggestions on some policy options that could help to mitigate the negative consequences of this new policy.

远征

在当今全球超过50起暴力冲突中,近30万的孩童成为了士兵.我们从来没有审视过在一个孩子眼中,残酷的战争会是什么模样.A Long Way Gone就是一个名叫Ishmael Beah的塞拉利昂男孩的战争回忆录.下面这一段是作者回忆儿时对战争的印象,有一种事不关己的感觉,为下文的参加战争到认识战争的描述作铺垫,更加能映衬出战争的残酷和人们的悲痛.     

Experimenting in distance education: The African virtual university (AVU) and the paradox of the World Bank in Kenya—A rejoinder

This rejoinder is in response to criticism against the African Virtual University (AVU), an internet-based education modality, by Amutabi and Oketch [2003. Experimenting in distance education: the African Virtual University (AVU) and the Paradox of World Bank in Kenya. International Journal of Educational Development 23, 57–73]. By closely focusing on AVU “foreignness”, its equity effects, as well as questions about its sustainability, this riposte argues that the origins, developments and modus operandi of the new virtual educational system mirrors that of the state universities in Kenya. The paper concludes by arguing in favor of the theory of isomorphism as a more comprehensive analytical framework for assessing complexities of the development and role of internet-based education in developing countries.     

The Right to Education for Children in Domestic Labour: Empirical Evidence from Kenya

Since 1948, various UN conventions have recognised basic education as a human right. Yet this right continues to be denied to many child labourers across the world. This articles draws on the results of a study examining how children in domestic labour in Kenya access and participate in education. Three issues were explored: (1) the correlates of child domestic labourers; (2) their working conditions and contexts; and (3) the right to education. Interviews and group discussions held in one city and two rural districts elicited data from 91 child domestic labourers and 84 adults. The results indicated that child labour was both poverty-induced and adult-initiated, and that children worked in hazardous environments characterised by economic exploitation. Most did not attend school; those who did had to contend with a rigid school structure and an authoritarian class environment. Children in domestic labour often skipped school, and their participation in classes was low.     

Whole family training and adoption of innovations in wheat-producing households in Bangladesh

The Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute's Wheat Research Centre (WRC) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) conducted investigations and baseline surveys of rural Bangladeshi women in wheat-producing households from November 1994 to April 1995. From this information, we concluded that wheat production in Bangladesh is a whole family activity because all immediate family members participate in the production cycle and all family members are affected by production decisions and results. Additionally, families had different systems for determining intra-household labor allocation. As such, we decided to train families as wheat-producing units rather than categorically divide training into gender-specific and/or task-specific segments, demonstrating respect for the family's internal operations. The ‘Whole Family Training Program’ was developed based on these concepts. The first phase of the Whole Family Training Program on post-harvest technologies was conducted in 14 areas in three greater districts in Bangladesh from March to May 1995. Female organizers usually from non-governmental organizations (NGO's) were instructed how to conduct the training with invited families from their working areas, using simple demonstration techniques, picture posters, and audience participation. Practical and cheap incentives, whose had been useful in the training, were distributed after completion of the sessions. The training recorded nearly 100% attendance in all districts; approximately 5,700 men and women from 1,300 families participated in the first pilot program. A review of the program and post-training evaluations suggested that training targets had been achieved. The evaluations recorded 100 per cent comprehension of key messages, and nearly all recommendations had a tested adoption rate of 90 to 100 per cent. Evaluation data suggests that families had adopted significant changes in many wheat-producing practices when compared with the baseline data before the training. Additionally, the organizers claimed to have gained more effective training experence as well as greater respect between their target families and their peers. They are now in a stronger position to reinforce and spread the recommendations they learned in their working areas. In 1999, a formal evaluation of the program was made with some impressive results recorded. We feel the use of non-gender biased whole family training is a methodology that is consistent with decision-making patterns of farming families in Bangladesh, showed a great deal of knowledge shared and implemented by the families, and could be adapted elsewhere. Whole family training has continued until the present, 2003, having trained over 9,000 grower families in wheat and expanding to 8,000 in maize production.     

Reclaiming history: Arthur Schomburg

Focusing on the inter-war period, this article examines the context of the publication of Sir Hilary Jenkinson’s Manual of Archive Administration alongside the less well-known contemporary publication of Arthur Schomburg’s ‘The Negro Digs up his Past’. By placing these publications together, this article raises questions about the production and reproduction of the professional canon, as well as highlighting Schomburg’s contribution to key archival questions on the nature of collecting. This work discusses Schomburg’s articulation of the purpose of archival collecting which offers a radically different conception of the value and use of archives, one that focuses on the concepts of recovery and transformation. This article also places Schomburg within the wider emergence of the Pan-African movement and situates his work within the developing Pan-African ideologies and the networks in which he operated, and argues that Schomburg’s legacy can be found in the development of Black-led archives in London.