Thread by @wmnjoya

Either we destroy the entire school system, from ECD to university, or we create alternative avenues to knowledge acquisition and certification.

There are no two ways about it. The monopoly of the colonial school system is destroying us. #CBCmustfall #TeachandGoHomeKE

Our colonial school system, run from Jogoo House, cheats administrators and teachers that we're SOOOOO important, that Kenyans cannot succeed without going through the nonsense we teach and the violence with which we cane.

We educators a reality check. We're not gods.

This arrogance has made us build inspectorates upon inspectorates. We're wasting so much money on torturing and monitoring teachers, on exams and on verification of qualifications. The money we spend on this bs, useless work could go to libraries, innovation, sports and the arts.

The truth is, all this education drama (police in exam rooms, debates on caning, curriculum change etc) is about an educated, clueless and uncreative managerial class that is afraid to lose control. They are clinging onto their jobs, not improving education.

Some of us just want to teach students, bring the world into our classrooms. Instead we're always dealing with bureaucrats who keep changing their minds about which forms to fill and which foreign policy to implement. Kenyan educators need to find our voices and say "enough!"

To say "enough," we must exorcise ourselves of the colonial arrogance that makes us think that having degrees and certificates makes us more knowledgeable and better than other Kenyans. We are simply experts in what we do, and we must respect Kenyans as experts in what they do.

We must also stop accepting the bizarre idea that "the school determines employment."That idea is blackmail that makes us scared of employers, but it becomes arrogance in the classroom when we create superficial syllabi like CBC and promise that kids will be employed in 20 years.

We educators are not economists, and we are not employers. We do what we do. If employers don't like it, let them do the job they think they can do better. Our job is not to read the minds of employers. Nobody knows what employers need better than employers themselves.

In any case, why is employment dictating the education system when only 2m Kenyans are employed, many of them closer to retirement end of employment? Come on. We need to use our common sense. We can't keep determining what our kids know by listening to these people.

But we listen to them because of the Jogoo House monopoly of schooling and certification. That's why we must have alternative knowledge systems and avenues for social mobility. Libraries. Sports. Festivals. Innovation. Internet....all the things which Jogoo house is afraid of.