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The widespread move toward a free basic education for all in developing nations has raised parents' and policymakers' interest in secondary education. In general, policymakers in such countries, as well as many development strategists, believe that there is a link between secondary education and the opportunity to compete vigorously in a global economy. Some of the challenges to secondary education in developing countries are discussed.

To compete internationally, adapt to new technologies, and attain higher levels of efficiency and productivity, a country needs a highly literate populace. However, in Kenya literacy stands at less than 65% of the population. With such a low rate of literacy, most development is hampered. In order for Kenya to make progress in political, social, and economic development, the level of literacy has to be raised. This paper makes an important contribution in the promotion of adult literacy in...

The focus of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was the experience of being an adult literacy education student in Kenya. Ten adult literacy education students in three learning centres were interviewed. A thematic analysis of the interview transcripts uncovered sixteen common themes in three broad categories: reasons for participating; effects of literacy in the daily lives of students and challenges students encountered.

This paper addresses the role of classroom discourse in supporting children's learning in Kenyan primary schools. The discourse strategies of 27 teachers teaching English, mathematics and science across the primary phase were intensively studied using discourse analysis and semi-structured interviews. A survey questionnaire (n=359) was also used to explore teacher perceptions of classroom discourse practices. The findings revealed the dominance of teacher-led recitation in which rote and...

To compete internationally, adapt to new technologies, and attain higher levels of efficiency and productivity, a country needs a highly literate populace. However, in Kenya, literacy stands at less than 65% of the population. With such a low rate of literacy, most development is hampered. In order for Kenya to make progress in political, social, and economic development, the level of literacy has to be raised. This paper makes an important contribution in the promotion of adult literacy in...

Two recent events occurred in the academic life of one of the editors of this journal. The first was a seminar presented at the University of Sydney by the Director of the Centre for Refugee Research at the University of New South Wales. The Director focused upon the ethics of research with extremely vulnerable populations such as refugees; in particular, refugee women who frequently experience systematised sexual torture and rape. She saw her work as a form of action research whose...

"Educating Children in Poor Countries" published on 23 Nov 2004 by International Monetary Fund.

Part of a special issue on young learners around the world. A team of American teacher educators is engaged in a cooperative venture with a rural community in Kenya to improve children's academic achievement. The first step in the cooperative venture involves the development of community resources and leaders. Participants also want to strengthen the educational infrastructure and improve educational practices in the local school. Some important lessons that the U.S. teacher educators have learned from the project are discussed.

The paper reports the results of a survey of parents (n = 12), teachers (n = 8) and pupils (n = 20) in primary schools in rural Kenya. The sample was divided equally between multilingual and monolingual schools, the former using English or Kiswahili only, right through primary school, the latter using the mother tongue (in this case, Kalenjin) Kalenjin in primary classes 1-3, and English or Kiswahili from primary class 4 on, where the children are on average 9 years old. Virtually all the...

This study provides insights into the nature of the analogies deployed by Kenyan physics teachers and generated by students in class. The analogies looked at (both teacher- and student-generated) were largely environmental (drawn from students' socio-cultural environment), anthropomorphic (life and human characteristics ascribed to analogues), and to a limited extent, scientific (analogue and target are science concepts). In some cases, anthropomorphic analogies proved problematic for...

Presents news briefs related to schools all over the world as of March 2003. Conducting of science and mathematics classes in English by schools in Malaysia; Cash incentives for students in Sweden for continuing their education; Benefits obtained by students from a move by the Kenyan government to provide free education to students in the country.

This collection of more than 40 papers was selected from more than 150 presentations at the 2nd Pan-African Conference on Reading sponsored by the Reading Association of Nigeria and the International Reading Association's International Development in Africa Committee. The collection is divided into seven sections. Under Section 1--Towards Building Literate Communities in Africa--is the following paper: "Towards a Reading Society" (Pai Obanya). Under Section 2--Promoting a Culture of Reading:...

The primary purpose of this study was to find out the attitudes of trainers and trainees towards the 8-4-4 power mechanics course offered in secondary schools in Kenya. The attitudes and other related aspects obtained from the trainers and trainees were used as evaluative devices for the course and hence the graduates of the course. A comparison between the 8-4-4 power mechanics graduates and non power mechanics trainees was done to establish how well they fit into the job market in the...

Following elections in 1994, the Government of Malawi embarked on an ambitious programme of free primary education (FPE), resulting in a dramatic increase in enrolment. The paper argues that the policy did not sufficiently consider the ways in which direct and indirect costs of schooling continue to be prohibitive for some households, or the effects that the expansion would have on quality. The relevance of education for the majority of children who receive only a few years of primary...

Since Reunification of French Cameroon and British Cameroons in 1961, the country has adopted French and English as its joint official languages and recommended the promotion of bilingualism in these two foreign languages in official domains. This paper focuses on the primary school level in the francophone sub system of education and examines the various measures that successive governments have taken. The first two measures failed to bear fruit, for various reasons including insufficient...

In Kenya, Kiriri Women's University of Science and Technology has opened in a bid to improve women's access to science and technology courses. Kiriri, which is only the second women's university in East and Central Africa, will initially offer courses in mathematics and computer science and will later provide courses in physics, biology, and actuarial sciences.

The effects of literacy and livelihood programs on female learners' participation in literacy were examined through case studies of groups of women who participated in four literacy and income-earning projects in Kenya. Data were collected through focus group discussions and a questionnaire. The four programs were started between 1968 and 1999 and included between 24 and 300 participants. All four programs offered different mixes of literacy components (mathematics, Kiswahili, mother tongue,...