Why adult education should be supported by Kenyan society

 Why Adult Education should be supported by Kenyan society

The idea of lifelong learning foresees citizens with learning opportunities at all ages and in several contexts. The contexts here include; at work, home and through social, leisure activities, and not just through normal channels such as school and higher education.

Formal learning concentrates on the early stages of life and cannot continue to sustain individuals throughout their lives. One of the essential reasons why lifelong education has become an important issue is the acceleration of technological and scientific advancements. In spite of the increased learning period in elementary, high school and tertiary education, the skills and knowledge acquired are often not enough for a professional career in one's career life. However, some people have even gotten the privilege to go through the normal system of formal education. These people end up becoming adults while they are illiterate.

The world has a higher number of illiterate adults (about 771 million). The figure represents 18% of the total adults globally (UNESCO, 2006). The overwhelming percentage shows that illiteracy is a widespread problem facing the whole world. In Africa, eight adults out of every group of ten have no ability to read and write. The people's rights declaration that was passed in 1948 in Paris included individual rights to education. Among the major issues concerning education in the current world, is illiteracy eradication. The issue is a result of the realization and acceptance of the current state of education as a whole. Literacy in particular has many implications on both personal and national development (Fordham, 985). Insufficient literacy skills in the current world result in underdevelopment because illiteracy in the modern world imposes both absolute and relative burdens on national and global economies.

Adult education is termed as continuing education. It is a broad term used in the education sector in teaching the practice of adult education. Adult education plays a significant role in the lifelong learning. Unlike other forms of education like children and young adults, adult education is often mandated via legislation that are structured into steadily advancing achievement levels. Adult education may be into various different specialization fields. The specialization include; personal enrichment, vocational education, and for some adults, remedial training for literacy and many other skills. The tools and techniques for adult education are of different forms from the normal formal education.

Adult education has developed in the importance in the modern days. It has partially grown in relation to industrialization that requires more skilled workers. Technology has integrated and advanced impacting workers to continue updating their knowledge and skills, and due to the increased consciousness human rights that allow people equal chances to fulfill their potentials. The effects bring greater pleasure, happiness and satisfaction to people involved. At the same time, the effects benefit the society as a whole through supporting the development of every society member. It benefits the members in ways that allow people to participate fully and effectively in their community.

Literacy is important in promoting socio-economic and political development in the society. The country's development can be a section of the literate adult population. Since Kenya attained independence, the country is committed to providing quality of adult education. Assessment and participation of adult education learners in adult literacy programs are poor in many regions in Kenya. The results are by findings that were released by the Kenya national literacy survey. The report has it that 7.8 million of the adult population in Kenya are illiterate (the Republic of Kenya, 2007).

Adult education and continuing education offer outside formal school system opportunities to adult learners. The system aims at equipping learners with many opportunities in education, training and acquisition of skills that people may apply in life. The 2007 survey of Kenya National Literacy indicate that Kenyan government is a signatory of the educational framework for all actions adopted at the world's education forum in Dakar (Senegal, 2000).

Education is considered a vital ingredient in the development process in both local and international grounds. Education is among the 13 powerful instruments that are fundamental in sustaining the nation's economic growth (Republic of Kenya, 2003). It also has the added advantage as continued education translates to adding the value in the formal education in their children (Republic of Kenya, 2007).

Adult education is one of the major components of the adult and continuing education. The system provides fundamental training and educational opportunities to adults. Especially, to those adults who have missed either formal education system opportunities during their childhood or dropped from school before attaining to a sustainable level of education.

According to Housing and Population Census report of 1999, adult education programmes target an estimate of about 4.2 million illiterate adults. Also, it targets 2.2 million school drop-outs among the youths. According to the vision 2030, the overall objective for 2012 is a reduction of illiteracy. The reduction is done through increasing education accessibility, improving transition rates from primary level to secondary levels. It is also done by raising the educational quality in relevance to modern education. Other objectives include; achieving 80 out of 100 adult literacy rate. Adult's literacy helps them to get out of poverty, participate fully in their communities, and be from exploitation. It also points out that education promotes gender equality, peace, democracy, better health practices and protection of the environment.

Adult continued education provides establishment of opportunities for linkages among adult, continuing education as well as non-formal with formal education and training systems by facilitating entry and exit at all relevant levels. It promotes learning and training opportunities and facilities to ensure access by the adults, school drop-outs. It also expands the post-literacy programme to cover all counties in the country. Also, it works in promotion of a reading culture among Kenyans through the establishment of Community Learning Resource Centres. Promotion of the open, distant and e-learning to increase opportunities for adult and continuing education as well as non-formal education.

Adult education provides adults with relevant knowledge and skills required by society to raise productivity, stimulating innovative minds sets and raise income. It then means that it enables poor people to acquire certain skills and knowledge that are relevant to raise their living standards.

Non-formal education is a form of adult education that enables adults to acquire skills such as in carpentry, and tailoring that can help them raise income and meet certain basic needs. It is also considered to be a wider range of production in the sense that when adults are educated or empowered. The adult learners develop the skill of self-sustainability and self-sustainability that enable them to contribute positively to the economic growth and poverty reduction. It is also vital in the sense that it creates the demands of the people to be heard by the government as it creates an informed citizen who can question the leadership in the society.

According to Lindeman(1989), it is explained that adult education is an agency of progress as it brings improvement and also changing in individual in continuing adjustment to social functions. It is also considered to be a veritable force towards achieving social development as it can influence change in the society. It simply means that the more educated or the people are, the more meaningfully they become in the society, and this can drive economic and social development within the content of both local and global economy.

Adult education is considered to be an empowering process. It means that adult education can equip men and women to contribute to the community and national development. It is also worthy to be because it has a symbiotic relationship with the environment within which it operates with regards to the importance of social and economic development. Adult education is as it has goals that are rooted into the improvement of the quality of education (Nafukho, 2005). It means that adult education is vital as it provides adults with the knowledge and understanding that is relevant to enhance their social and economic development. It also can increase men and women physical and mental freedom. It means that adult education enables men and women increase their control over themselves and also contribute to their lives and also the social environment where they live. Adult education is necessary for the sense that it does not only preserve useful old values and knowledge, but it also enables the facilitation of the creation of new social values and knowledge.

It is also important and necessary in the sense that it fosters harmonious and peaceful living and maintenance of a healthy environment as well as matters that are with gender. It is also necessary as it brings about self-exploration. Self-exploration enables adults to be able to learn about foreign cultures and integration in education activities for peace. It also also allows them to be more conscious of the conditions of their lives and their surrounding that may have an influence to the way they live especially in terms of health. Nafukho (2005) states that the success or performance of adult education can be in terms of the desirable changes that is achieved in the attitude of individuals. It implies that once adult education is pursued it brings about cultural, political and social change in attitude of adults.

Adult education is also necessary for that it provides knowledge and understanding of the countries and world's rapid population among different groups in the society. It means that it brings awareness among the adult learners about the interrelationship and effects that exist between rapid population, poverty, illiteracy and national development. Illiteracy helps people or adults to make conscious, informed decisions regarding the importance of literacy, family size, and family planning. The members also become aware of the process and consequences of population growth on the quality of life and environment (Watkins, 1999). It means that, if adult education is supported, it will be able to equip people with the necessary knowledge, values, skills and attitudes. The skills and values will enable them to evaluate the impact of population change, both at community and national level.

Adult education is also necessary for that it helps individual to have the desire for change and develop insight that make change became feasible in all aspects of life. It also helps adults or the individuals to have conscious and effective incorporation into working life. It means adult education can provide men and women with the skills that are relevant to help them develop and improve their working life. It also helps to bring about respect for the diversity of cultures and customs and shaping the attitudes and perceptions of individuals regarding various aspects of society affecting them. It also helps people to be informed citizens on the rights and political responsibilities and favoring the development through democracy and political stability (Lindeman, 1989).

In conclusion, adult education must be given a priority in the sense that adult are more relevant to society due to their experiences and are more motivated than children. They are self-directed and know what they want to achieve and have the potential to contribute positively to social, Economic, cultural, political and environmental development of the nation. It should be in different ways than educating children.

Reference

UNESCO. 2008. EFA Global Monitoring Report 2008: Education For All by 2015: Will we make it? Paris: UNESCO Publishing.

Government of Kenya. 2002. Government Education Reports 1999-2002. Nairobi, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. Nairobi: Government Printer.

Republic of Kenya. (2008). Education For Sustainable Development Implementation Strategy. Retrieved from http://planipolis.iiep.unesco.org/upload/Kenya/Kenya_ESDStrategy.pdf

New World Encyclopedia. (n.d.). Adult education - New World Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Adult_education

Knowles et .al (1998).The Adult Learners.Woburn: Butterworth Heinemann.Lindeman, E.C. (1989).The Meaning of Adult Education. Norman: Oklahoma.

Nafukho et .al (2005).Foundation of Adult Education.Hamburg: UNESCO Institute for Education.

UNESCO (1997).Adult Education, The Hamburg Declaration. Hamburg: UNESCO Institute of Education.

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