Towards Achieving Quality Education in Kenya: Safeguarding Sustainable Free Day Secondary Education

The Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE) was envisioned to make education in secondary schools more inexpensive and to enhance the success of students academically. These were to be attained via the reduction of user fees, textbooks provision, and other learning resources. However, stakeholders in this education sector are confronted with several problems. Many parents claim that FDSE is free, and this is probably going to influence their gathering of the other costs of education. It is against this background that the research sought to determine the effect of maximizing FDSE on the education quality in Kenya. The FDSE funds adequacy is vital in determining human capital quality available in Government free day secondary schools. Insufficiency of funds from the Free Day Secondary Education program conceded human capital quality. It is because the Free Day Secondary Education program failed to offer employment of human capital to manage the resultant enrolment increase and to provide capacity building of the present human capital to handle the changes evolving with the launch of the Free Day Secondary Education program. The rise of workload for the support staff and teachers also lessened the quality of personalized teaching they are supposed to provide to learners. However, due to the delay of FDSE funds' disbursement, the acquisition, motivation, and human capital sustenance were negatively impacted as the funds were not reliable. It implies that FDSE funds sufficiency significantly influences the human capital sufficiency available in Government free day secondary schools. Hence, free day secondary education impacts the human capital adequacy to a great extent in government day secondary schools. The Government should increase funds for FDSE allocated to government day secondary schools as the study revealed that they were not adequate to enhance full students' participation in government day secondary schools. This study recommends that there is need to put in place appropriate measures to ensure that the required facilities are put in place to support the entire FDSE program. Keywords: Free Day Secondary Education, Quality, Safeguarding, Sustainable, Kenya DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-33-09 Publication date: November 30th 202

Teacher Preparedness for the Implementation of Competency Based Curriculum in Kenya: A Survey of Early Grade Primary School Teachers’ in Bomet East Sub-County

This paper explores teacher preparedness for the competency-based curriculum in Kenya. Competency based curriculum was introduce to Kenya’s Education system in 2016 as a pilot of curriculum to be rolled out under 2-6-3-3-3 education system that is replacing the three decades old 8-4-4 system. The new curriculum is seen by many as a panacea to the problem of graduate employability in Kenya. The 8-4-4 graduates have been blamed for lacking relevant job skills. Competency based curriculum aims at engaging learners in applying knowledge through demonstration as opposed to content overload. This study focused on early grade primary teacher’s preparedness to successfully implement the competency-based curriculum. Concerns have been raised at the pilot stages on the capacity of those implementers. StuffleBeam’s CIPP curriculum Evaluation model was used to interrogate the CBC as currently implemented. The objectives of the study were to find out early grade Education teacher’s understanding of CBC, establish their capacity to realign teaching/learning resources to CBC, determine their preparedness to realign teaching/learning approaches to the demands of CBC and their capacity to evaluate a CBC curriculum. Data was collected using questionnaires and interviews. Analysis of data reveals that teachers are inadequately prepared. Their knowledge of CBC is vague and this has hampered their delivery and evaluation. It is also recommended that KICD and ministry of education plans for more training sessions to bridge capacity gaps highlighted in pedagogy, Assessment and preparation of teaching documents

Campylobacter, a zoonotic pathogen of global importance: prevalence and risk factors in the fast-evolving chicken meat system of Nairobi, Kenya

Campylobacteriosis is a leading foodborne zoonosis worldwide, and is frequently associated with handling and consumption of poultry meat. Various studies indicate that Campylobacter causes a substantial human disease burden in low to middle-income countries, but data regarding the organism's epidemiology in countries like Kenya are scarce. In sub-Saharan Africa, 3.8 million deaths of children under-5 years of age are reported annually. Of those, 25% are caused by diarrheal diseases, and Campylobacter is one of the most frequently isolated bacteria from diarrheic children. With the growth of urban conglomerates, such as Kenya's capital, Nairobi, changes in diets, food production systems, and retailing dynamics, it is likely that exposure and susceptibility to this pathogen will change. Therefore, the importance of Campylobacter disease burden in Kenya may increase further. The objectives of this study were: 1) to determine the prevalence of Campylobacter spp. in Nairobi's small-scale chicken farms and meat retailers, and 2) to identify potential risk factors associated with its presence in those sites. The prevalence data provides the first detailed baseline for this pathogen in the urban Kenyan context. The risk factors provide context-specific insights for disease managers. A cross-sectional study of broiler, indigenous chicken farms, and chicken meat retailers, was conducted in a peri-urban, low to middle-income area (Dagoretti), and a very-low income informal settlement (Kibera) of Nairobi. Chicken faeces were collected using one pair of boot socks per farm, and 3 raw chicken meat samples were purchased per retailer. Samples were cultured for viable Campylobacter spp. using mCCDA, followed by blood agar plates in aerobic/microaerobic conditions for prevalence calculations. A questionnaire-based survey on sanitary, sourcing and selling practices was conducted at each site for risk factor identification using logistic regression analyses. A total of 171 farm premises and 53 retailers were sampled and interviewed. The prevalence results for Campylobacter spp. were between 33 to 44% for broiler and indigenous chicken farms, 60% and 64% for retailers, in Dagoretti and Kibera, respectively. Univariable logistic regression showed an association between Campylobacter spp. presence and the easiness of cleaning the display material used by the retailer. Restricting access to the flock was also associated with the pathogen's presence. Multivariable logistic regression identified the selling of defrosted meat as a retailer risk factor (OR: 4.69; 95% CI: 1.31-19.97), calling for more investigation of the reported repetitive freezing-thawing processes and cold chain improvement options. At the farm-level, having a pen floor of material not easy to clean was found to increase the risk (OR: 2.31; 95%CI: 1.06-5.37). The relatively high prevalence of Campylobacter spp. across different areas and value chain nodes indicates a clear human exposure risk. The open nature of both small-scale broiler and indigenous chicken production practices with low biosecurity, hygiene and informal transactions, likely plays a role in this. While gradual improvement of farm biosecurity is recommended, risk factors identified suggest that consumer education and enforcement of basic food safety principles at the retailer end of the food continuum represent key targets for risk reduction in informal settings

Campylobacter, a zoonotic pathogen of global importance: prevalence and risk factors in the fast-evolving chicken meat system of Nairobi, Kenya - Prevalence study dataset

Campylobacter culture results for samples collected from small-scale chicken (broiler and indigenous chickens) farms (i.e. faeces samples) and from small-scale chicken meat retailers (i.e. fresh or defrosted chicken meat) in Nairobi, Kenya. <div>Chicken faeces were collected using one pair of boot socks per farm; 3 raw chicken meat samples were purchased per retailer. Samples were cultured for viable Campylobacter spp. using mCCDA, followed by blood agar plates in aerobic/microaerobic conditions for prevalence calculations.</div><div>Using a chicken farm or retailer as a sampling unit, a site with one or more positive samples on culture classified as positive for Campylobacter spp. A sample was considered positive if at least one isolate was obtained and comfirmed by culture. </div><div><br></div><div>Ethical approvals from ILRI and RVC :I LRI-IREC2016-01,URN 2015 1453.</div