Decolonizing Kenyan Curriculum and Self-Reliance

Purpose: Education is meant to develop capacity and enable members of society to become productive. African indigenous education systems inculcated self-reliance among members of society and every individual had a specific defined role within the society. The colonial education system introduced the aspects of unemployment, underemployment and job seekers. In an effort to address growing mismatch between expectations by graduates and societal employment provisions, the government has regularly formed commissions and made reforms in the education system. Despite these efforts there has been growing concerns on the effectiveness of the current education system to inculcate self-reliance among graduates. This study sought to establish the influence of decolonizing the Kenyan education system on self-reliance among students. The study was carried out in universities in Kenya. Methodology: This study utilized the descriptive survey design and the correlational research design. A sample size of 384 respondents made up of 60 members of teaching faculty and 324 fourth year bachelor of education students was selected to participate in the study. Data collection was done using questionnaires and interview schedules. Descriptive statistics was used for measures of central tendencies including mean, standard deviation and coefficient of variation. Inferential statistics through correlation analysis using the Pearson‘s coefficient of correlation was applied to measure the degree of influence of decolonizing curriculum on self-reliance. To test hypothesis, simple linear and multiple regression models were used to test significance between independent and dependent variable. Qualitative data from interviews was organized into themes, categories and patterns pertinent to the study. Findings: The study found that the contemporary Kenyan curriculum influenced self-reliance to a moderate extent and that integration of selected elements of African indigenous curriculum was capable of improving the Kenyan curriculum to a large extent. It was concluded that decolonizing curriculum had a statistically significant relationship with self-reliance among students in the Kenyan education system. Unique Contribution to Theory, Policy and Practice : The findings of this study will hopefully shed light on factors attributable to colonization that continue to impact on students’ attainment of self-reliance and help planners to make early interventions with regard to self-reliance in education.


INTRODUCTION
The proponents of the 8-4-4 systems argued that it was relevant for the needs of the nation or it would meet the national demands for self-employment and self-reliance (Ambaa, 2015).The school curriculum adopted for 8-4-4 included learning opportunities which were meant to enable pupils to acquire a suitable basic foundation for the world of work in the context of economic and manpower needs of the nation, and to appreciate and respect the dignity of labor (Eshiwani 1993).To achieve the stated objectives, three subjects were emphasized as being of special importance: Art and Craft, Agriculture and Home Science.Art and Craft education featured content areas such as collage and mosaic, drawings, paintings, graphic design, clay and pottery, leatherwork, modeling and carving; fabric design, puppetry, wood work and metalwork.Learners in these courses were expected to produce functional and aesthetically appealing articles (Ambaa, 2015).Ideally, pupils were supposed to use the acquired knowledge and skills in order to design, implement and control small scale projects that would provide opportunities for self-reliance for both the learner and other members of the community (Eshiwani, 1993) Other subjects introduced through 8-4-4 with the aim of training pupils for self-reliance were Agriculture and Home science.In Agriculture the learner was expected to acquire practical skills such as growing of vegetables, learning about domestic animals; poultry and bee keeping, making farm tools and caring for the soil and the environment (Eshiwani, 1993).Home science, which the syllabus defines as the study of home and family living within the environment, was designed to develop and apply knowledge, skills, principles and attitudes which would help the leaner to relate better to the social and economic realities of the community and the country (Ambaa, 2015).Its specific objectives were to give pupils basic knowledge useful in promoting the welfare of the home and family and setting standards for community living.The subject comprised three areas of learning namely, home management, clothing and textiles and food and nutrition while business education was meant to equip learners with entrepreneurship skills.However, these subjects were eventually given less prominence in the primary school curriculum remaining only as non-examinable subjects at this level (Karanja, 2008).
Various studies have been carried out examining the 8-4-4 education system with regard to its goal of producing self-reliant individuals for the Kenyan society.Ambaa (2015) observed that while the 8-4-4 system curriculum allowed for more options in technical and vocational subjects, it experienced serious shortages or lack of essential resources and facilities and the local communities could not be mobilized to provide the facilities required.This is also emphasized by Amutabi (2003) who noted that that 8-4-4 encountered numerous challenges such as lack of involvement of relevant stakeholders, infrastructures such as classrooms, workshops, curriculum, trained personnel, literature and pedagogy.This indicates that the goal of training graduates for self-reliance through introduction of a vocational oriented curriculum was bound to fail since the new curriculum required many facilities for practical subjects such as art and craft, agriculture, music and home science which were not available.Kenya has continued to grapple with the problem of production of graduates and school leavers who lack the basic capacity to be selfreliant and live their lives independently.There is growing economic dependency among the youth of Kenya.
Kenya started the process of overhauling its education system for the first time in 32 years in January 2018.The 8-4-4 system of education that the country has been operating on and whose guiding philosophy was education for self-reliance will gradually be replaced by the competency based 2-6-6-3 curriculum.Part of the reasons behind this huge overhaul is the realisation that Kenya isn't doing enough to produce school-leavers who are ready for the world of work (Sifuna, 2016).The government's own assessments have showed that the current system isn't flexible.It struggles to respond to individual pupils' strengths and weaknesses.The Kenya Institute of Education produced an evaluation report about the 8-4-4 system in 2008 which identified several weaknesses with the system of education: It found that the system was very academic and examination oriented; the curriculum was overloaded; most schools were not able to equip their pupils with practical skills and many teachers also weren't sufficiently trained ( Sifuna, 2016).In this sense, the 8-4-4 system could be said to have failed in its core aim of preparing all learners to be self-reliant.
The core aim of the 8-4-4 system from its inception was to prepare learners to be self-reliant individuals.The content of the curriculum was arranged so as to impart vocational type of skills to learners, with the hope of preparing them to be self-reliant.However, it is observed that the 8-4-4 was hurriedly implemented, without adequate consultation and involvement of stakeholders, provision of adequate facilities and infrastructure and training of teachers for implementing the new curriculum (Sifuna, 2016;Ambaa, 2015, Simiyu, 2001;Amutabi, 2003;Eshiwani, 1993;RoK, 1988).Parallels have been drawn between the manner in which the 8-4-4 education sytem was introduced and the way the 2-6-6-3 system was introduced at the beginning of 2018.Sifuna (2016) raised concerns over the cost of the new curriculum and the extent to which teachers and other implementers of the curriculum were prepared for the new curriculum approach.Kenya continues to produce graduates at all levels of education who lack knowledge, skills and attitude to rely on themselves and dependency levels continue to be a major challenge to the economy of this country.Not much attention has been payed to the role played by colonialism and the legacy of colonial education as well as the adoption of a Eurocentric type of curriculum after independence.
This study sought to deconstruct the Kenyan education system with regard to its role in inculcating self-reliance among students.Based on the gaps identified in the literature review, the researcher situated this study in the Anti-colonial theoretical framework in order to fill the gaps.Education in the African indigenous dimension trained all members of society through its curriculum, pedagogical approach, learning environment and evaluation to be self-reliant.However, colonization and introduction of a Eurocentric type of education had long lasting effects on education for Africans.This study sought to explore the influence of integrating aspects of indigenous curriculum in Africa into the contemporary Kenyan education in order to inculcate knowledge, skills and the spirit of self-reliance among learners.

Research Design
This study utilized the descriptive survey design and the correlational research design.The choice of these two research designs was informed by the fact that descriptive and inferential data analysis was required in this study.Since in this study both the causal effects of relationships as well as the extent to which the combination of independent variables influence the outcome of the dependent variable was desired, then both descriptive research design and correlational research design was the most suitable for the study.While descriptive survey helped the researcher to describe phenomena, correlational research design enabled the researcher to identify predictive relationships by using correlations and regression modelling.

Target Population
The target population for this study was 537,211 subjects made up of 520,893 students, and 16,318 Academic staff members in chartered public and private universities in Kenya (KNBS, 2018).Constituent colleges of chartered universities as well as universities that have not existed for at least five years with a charter did not form part of the population for this study.

Sampling Procedure and Sample Size
Kathuri and Pals (1993) recommend a sample of 384 for a population exceeding 100,000.To achieve this sample size, purposive sampling was used to select two universities from each of the six zones as distributed by the Kenya University Sports Association.Universities offering Bachelor of education degrees were selected while care was taken to select a proportionate sample of public and private universities Members of the academic staff and fourth year students in the faculties or schools of education in the sampled universities were selected to participate in the study.Five members of the academic staff in each of the selected universities were randomly selected to participate in the study.Members of the academic staff in the faculties of education were considered because they have expert opinion and experience on issues under scrutiny in this study.Simple random sampling was used to select at least 27 fourth year bachelor of education students in each of the selected universities to participate in this study.Fourth year students in the faculties of education were selected since they were expected to possess sufficient information regarding the education system in Kenya with regard to self-reliance and also about the colonial education and African indigenous education.A sample size of 384 respondents made up of 60 members of academic staff and 324 fourth year bachelor of education students was selected to participate in the study.For further exploration of issues under study, in depth interviews were carried out with deans of faculties of education in selected university as well as with individuals who have recently graduated from universities.Snowball sampling was used to select 15 graduates who have graduated in the last two years from universities to participate in the study.Graduates were selected since they are expected to have information on both the education system in Kenya and the world of work especially with regard to employment, underemployment, dependency, selfemployment and self-reliance.

Research Instruments
The research instrument used for data collection included questionnaires and interview schedules.Questionnaires were used for data collection from Students and academic staff in universities.The questionnaire had both closed-ended and open-ended questions.The closedended questions enabled collection of quantitative data for statistical analysis while open-ended questions were expected to elicit qualitative responses about the respondents' views on the issue under study.
An interview schedule was used to collect information from the Deans of faculties or schools of education in the sampled public and private universities in Kenya.An in-depth interview was also carried out with individuals who have graduated from universities in the last two years.A list of issues to be discussed was prepared in advance.In the interview the researcher sought to collect information regarding the extent to which the curriculum, pedagogical approaches, evaluation and school environments in the Kenyan education system promotes self-reliance among students in Kenya.Information was also sought about the extent to which decolonizing the curriculum, pedagogical approaches, school environment and evaluation in the Kenyan education system could promote self-reliance among students.

Data Analysis
The study generated both quantitative and qualitative data.Questionnaires generated mainly quantitative data.Interviews generated qualitative data to further explain and supplement the quantitative data.Data cleaning was done after collecting the instruments from the respondents to check any anomalies and to eliminate any outliers as well as incomplete questionnaires.Data coding was then done to classify the responses into meaningful categories so as to bring out their essential pattern.Data was the entered using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25 for the purpose of analysis.Descriptive statistics were used for measures of central tendencies including mean, standard deviation and coefficient of variation.Inferential statistics through correlation analysis using the Pearson's product moment coefficient of correlation were applied to measure the degree of association between each independent variable (Decolonizing curriculum, Decolonizing pedagogical approaches, Decolonizing school environment and Decolonizing evaluation) and the dependent variable which is self-reliance.
To test hypothesis, simple linear and multiple regression models were used to test significance between independent and dependent variable using t-statistic at 95% confidence level.Coefficient of determination was used to assess how much of variation in self-reliance is due to its relationship with the decolonizing Kenyan education system.Analysis of variance (F-statistic) was conducted to assess the robustness and overall significance of the regression model at 5% significance level.In analysis of qualitative data generated through open ended questions in the questionnaire, the Framework Based Approach proposed by Ritchie et al (2003) was used.This involves classifying and organizing data into a thematic framework based on key themes, concepts and categories.

Results and Discussions
The objective of this study was to determine the extent to which decolonizing curriculum promotes self-reliance among students in the Kenyan education system.A decolonizing curriculum was conceived in terms of integrating aspects of African indigenous curriculum into the contemporary Kenyan curriculum.Two sets of items were included in the questionnaire to measure the variety of subjects taught, content of subjects taught, and choice of subjects by the learner as well as the source/origin of content taught in both the contemporary Kenyan education system and in the indigenous African education system.

Contemporary Curriculum
The respondents were requested to indicate the extent to which they agreed with selected statements about the Kenyan education system.Selected statements capture indicators of a curriculum which according to literature reviewed would be associated with self-reliance.They were given fourteen items rated on a five point Likert scale ranging from: of SD -Strongly Disagree; D -Disagree; N -Neutral; A -Agree; and SA -Strongly Agree from which to choose.The findings are presented in  1 on the contemporary curriculum, reveal that majority of the respondents disagree that in the Kenyan education system, the curriculum focuses on community-centred knowledge and skills(31.8%),students have ample time to participate in communal programmes ( 40.4%), technical subjects feature prominently in the education system (29.2%),students are exposed to a work-oriented curriculum (28.9%), content of subjects taught in educational institutions is derived from the immediate environment(32.6%)and that students are presented with a challenging curriculum designed to develop independent thinking (23.7%).
A majority of respondents agreed that music and drama are highly encouraged in education institutions (26.6%), there is a wide variety of subjects provided in the education system according to the majority of respondents (39.3%), that subjects in the education system enable learners to explore their creativity (28.9%), content curriculum enables students to develop their potential talents (27.3%) content of curriculum nurtures the spirit of independence (29.9%),Subjects taught in the education system enable students develop strong self-esteem (27.1%) and that Kenyan curriculum exposes learners to the world of work (26.6%).
The frequencies presented on Table 1 show that the majority of the respondents disagreed about the presence of curriculum aspects that would promote self-reliance among students in the Kenyan education system.The findings in this study are supported by other studies on curriculum in Kenya which found that although the 8-4-4 system of education was designed to prepare learners for a life of self-reliance through inculcating in them skills that would lead to self-employment; the implementation of this curriculum has been largely ineffective.Simiyu (2001) found that although the 8-4-4 system curriculum provided for more options in technical and vocational subjects, training in these areas did not bear the expected results since there were no trained technical and vocational subjects teachers and local craftsmen could not be used.Amutabi (2003) found that the Kenyan education system was theoretically oriented due to lack of infrastructure and therefore did not adequately provide learners with adequate skills for selfreliance.According to Owino (1997) vocational subjects and activities introduced in the 8-4-4 curriculum to provide students with skills for self-reliance were viewed by teachers and students as an extra burden both in practical daily activities in schools and in national examination.

African Indigenous Curriculum
Decolonizing the curriculum involves integration of African indigenous curriculum elements into the contemporary Kenyan curriculum.Respondents were requested to rate the extent to which integrating of selected elements of the indigenous African curriculum could enhance the Kenyan education system using a scale of NE -To no extent ;SE -To a small extent; N -Neutral; LE -To a large extent; and VLE -To a very large extent; The findings are presented on  1 indicates that "teaching subjects that develop practical skills" was rated as useful to a very large extent by majority of the respondents (39.8%).Other elements of the indigenous African curriculum rated by the majority of respondents as useful to a very large extent include: teaching subjects that emphasize hands-on experiences (35.7%),Emphasizing of individual talents in the choice of subjects (42.2%),Teaching subjects that promote creativity among learners (39.6%), presenting learners with a curriculum that instills skills to exploit their immediate environment (38.0%) and involvement of local communities in curriculum development (29.2%).African indigenous curriculum elements rated as useful to a large extent by majority of the respondents include: aligning content to immediate needs of society (37.0%), integrating objectives if of African indigenous education in the curriculum (30.2 %) and focusing on the local environment as the main source of content for the curriculum (30.7%).
The findings in this study confirm the assertion by Omolewa (2007) that following the indigenous African model of teaching, it is wise to start with the knowledge about the local area, which students are familiar with, and then gradually move to the knowledge about regional, national and global environments.Omolewa further observed that indigenous people have developed enormous volumes of knowledge over the centuries about different subject matters especially in the areas of informal and vocational training, where each person in the community is practically trained and prepared for his/her role in society.Ambaa (2015) also reported that teaching in learning institutions in Kenya should be related to one's interest and experience and as a result, the inherent abilities that individuals possess will be developed which may be vital in realizing self-reliance as an aim of education.

Self-reliance
The dependent variable for this study was self-reliance.Self-reliance among graduates and school leavers from the education system was conceived in this study in terms of the extent to which they exhibited an attitude of self-reliance and showed attributes of self-reliance such as creativity, responsibility, autonomy, hard work, confidence in their own capabilities and selfesteem.Respondents were asked to indicate the extent to which they agreed with selected statements about graduates of the Kenyan education system.Selected statements captured aspects which according to literature reviewed were indicators of self-reliance.They were given fifteen items rated on a five-point Likert scale ranging from: of SD -Strongly Disagree; D -Disagree; N -Neutral; A -Agree; and SA -Strongly Agree from which to choose.The findings are presented in Table 3  Research findings on Table 3 indicate that the mean score for the fifteen selected indicators of self-reliance was 2.85 with a standard deviation of 1.22.This shows that respondents rated the extent to which graduates of the Kenyan education system show characteristics of self-reliance moderately.Respondents disagreed that Learners leave the education system capable of living independently (M=2.47,S.D= 1.20).Respondents also disagreed that most graduates can survive without wage employment with a mean of 2.50 and a standard deviation of 1.24.On the suggestion that most graduates prefer self-employment to wage employment, respondents were of a neutral opinion (M=2.72,S.D= 1.29).They were neutral (M=2.73,S.D= 1.22) on the suggestion that graduates have enough skills to survive in a world that faces shrinking job opportunities.Respondents were neutral (M=2.75,S.D= 1.23) about the suggestion that graduates of the education system are highly creative and versatile enough to perform many different tasks.A neutral opinion was also observed for the statements that graduates can live without relying on other people (M=2.86,S.D= 1.17) and that graduates do not continue receiving support from Parents and guardians after graduation (M=2.87,S.D= 1.22).Other statements to which respondents were neutral include "Graduates would rather create jobs for themselves rather than go out seeking for jobs (tarmacking)" (M=2.90,S.D= 1.32), "Graduates of Educational institutions can survive in any environment" (M=2.93,S.D= 1.22), "Educational institutions identify and develop learners potentialities" (M=2.93,S.D= 1.24), "Graduates of education system can work independently without supervision (M=2.95,S.D= 1.21), and "Graduates have sufficient knowledge and skills to go into self-employment" (M=2.99,S.D= 1.27).
Respondents were neutral to the statement that graduates have great confidence in their own capabilities (M=3.01,S.D= 1.17).They were also neutral on the statement that graduates have skills needed in the community (M=3.03,S.D= 1.16).On the statement that graduates of the school system have high self-esteem, respondents were neutral with a mean of 3.10 and a standard deviation of 1.17.The results on Table 3 indicate that majority of the respondents rated graduates of the Kenyan education system moderately with regard to self-reliance.

Correlation Analysis for Curriculum and Self-reliance
The Pearson's Product Moment technique was used to carry out Correlational analysis to determine the relationship between indicators of contemporary Kenyan curriculum, indigenous African curriculum, decolonized (integrated) curriculum and self-reliance.It was meant to identify the strength and direction of the association between the indicators of these variables.
Values of correlation coefficient range from -1 and +1.A correlation coefficient of +1 indicates that the two variables are perfectly and positively related in a linear sense, while -1 shows that the two variables are perfectly related but in a negative linear sense.Hair et al (2006) observe that correlation coefficient (r) ranging from 0.81 to 1.0 is very strong; from 0.61 to 0.80 is strong; from 0.41 to 0.60 is moderate; from 0.21 to 0.40 is weak; and from 0.00 to 0.20 indicates no relationship.The results are presented on Table 3.  3 indicate a strong positive and significant correlation between the indicators of the contemporary curriculum and self-reliance (r=786, p-value 0.000<0.01).There is also a strong positive and significant correlation between the decolonizing curriculum (integrated curriculum) and self-reliance (r=736, p-value 0.000<0.01).

Regression Analysis and Hypothesis Testing for Decolonizing Curriculum and Self-reliance
The objective of the study was to determine the extent to which decolonizing curriculum promotes self-reliance among students in the Kenyan education system.A decolonizing curriculum was conceived in terms of integrating elements of African indigenous curriculum into the contemporary Kenyan curriculum.The measures of the curriculum comprised the variety of subjects taught, content of subjects taught, and choice of subjects by the learner as well as the source/origin of content taught in both the contemporary education system and in the indigenous African education systems.Respondents had been asked to indicate the extent to which the Kenyan education system focused on the selected curriculum dimensions.Respondents were also asked to rate the usefulness of integrating the curriculum dimensions conceived from an African indigenous perspective into the Kenyan education system.Self-reliance measures were composed of attitude, creativity, responsibility, autonomy, hard work, confidence in own capabilities and self-esteem.To determine the relationship between decolonizing curriculum and self-reliance, the following hypothesis was tested.
H01: There is no statistically significant relationship between decolonizing curriculum and selfreliance among students in the Kenyan education system.
The regression results are presented on Table 4.
The results on Table 4 also reveal that the contemporary curriculum was considered statistically significant with a regression coefficient of 0.827, a t-value of 24.823 and a P-value of 0.000<0.05.This suggests that one unit change in the contemporary curriculum corresponds to increase in self-reliance by a factor of 0.827.Further, the study reveals that there exists a significant relationship between decolonizing curriculum and self-reliance at 5% level of significance (regression coefficient=0.936,P-value 0.000<0.05).This implies that for one unit change in decolonizing curriculum, there is an increase in self-reliance by a factor of 0.936.
In conclusion the study revealed that the current curriculum and the decolonizing curriculum contributed significantly towards self-reliance.The Null hypothesis that there is no significant relationship between decolonizing curriculum and self-reliance is not supported in the current study.The regression model for the prediction of self -reliance can be stated as follows: 0.827 = an estimate of the expected increase in Self-reliance in response to a unit increase in contemporary curriculum 0.936= an estimate of the expected increase in Self-reliance in response to a unit increase in Decolonizing curriculum.
Based on the findings of this study, it was revealed that decolonizing curriculum (with a regression coefficient =0.936) would improve the contemporary curriculum (regression coefficient= 0.827) in promoting self-reliance among students.Although studies on decolonizing curriculum for self-reliance are difficult to find, many studies have been carried out on integration of Indigenous knowledges to contemporary education systems.Since integrating of indigenous knowledges into contemporary curriculums is part of the efforts to decolonize education, reference can be made on these studies.The results of this study support Hamilton-Ekeke and Dorgu (2015) who posited that since indigenous knowledge was generated from the local wisdom and culture, it fits to the local situation natively and that this knowledge could contribute to solve existing problems and achieving the intended objectives.The findings also supports Omolewa ( 2007) who observed that integration of traditional education into school curriculum enables schools to act as agencies for transferring the culture of the society from one generation to the next and links the learning process more closely to learners' everyday experience in order to help them to make better sense of what they learn

Conclusions
Judging from the findings resulting from the data collected for this study, the results reveal some vital facts upon which the conclusions can be drawn.We can conclude from this study that decolonizing the curriculum in the Kenyan education system would have a positive influence on self-reliance among students.The study revealed that decolonizing curriculum through integrating aspects of the indigenous African curriculum had significant relationship with selfreliance among students.Teaching subjects that develop practical skills, those that promote creativity among learners and those that promote hands-on experiences were considered as crucial for promoting self-reliance.Presenting learners with a curriculum that instills skills to exploit their immediate environments was also highly rated in promoting self-reliance.

Recommendation
Based on the findings of the current study, the researcher made the following recommendations: i.The is need for curriculum developers to focus more on the learner's immediate environment so as to develop curricula that responds to immediate needs of the learner.
ii.There is need for curriculum developers to explore ways of developing and designing locally and regionally relevant curricula where focus is on instilling skills and competencies relevant for survival in the learner's immediate environment and to ground them firmly in their own cultures before introducing them to knowledge from other areas and cultures.iii.Curriculum planners should be encouraged to help to integrate self-reliance skills modeled along the lines of African indigenous educational practices into contemporary Kenyan education.

Y
= Y-intercept (constant).Estimate of expected value of self-reliance when contemporary curriculum is Zero.

Table 1 Table 1
Frequencies and Percentages on Contemporary Curriculum

Table 2 Table 2
Frequencies and Percentages on Decolonizing curriculum using Means and Standard Deviations.

Table 3
Correlation Analysis of Curriculum and Self-reliance