Role of Urban Non-formal Education in Inclusive Education Provision in Nairobi Kenya

Abstract

Education is both a human right and a key to other human rights, a driving force to development and a vital ingredient to most human virtues like peace and equity (UNESCO. World education report 2000: The right to education. Towards education for all throughout life. UNESCO, Paris, 2000). It is with a similar mindset that the universal declaration of human rights affirmed that every person has an equal right to education. This has informed development of many policy documents on the provision of education. Such declarations are a good pointer to recognition of existence of a challenge in access to education. On the flipside, there remains a significant gap between targeted levels of access to education and the actual situation on the ground. Limited access to education is more prevalent in developing countries. Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya faces similar challenges of access to quality inclusive education as most cities in Africa. Some of the causes of limited access to education for persons in the lower income bracket comprise cost of education, including school uniform, text books and school levies among others. Under the circumstances, non-formal education has emerged as an alternative provision option to those who may not fit in the formal settings due to various factors such as being child labourers, street children or simply poor. The fact that such learners lack access to formal education renders inclusive education unachievable. It is only when ALL learners have access to an education where they can participate and achieve set goals and objectives according to their established abilities, that inclusive education will be achieved. No child should be left behind in education. An education system that leaves out the vulnerable in society may not be inclusive on account of the above statement. With the formal education system in Kenya not accommodating such learners, non-formal education may fill in the gap. Moreover, non-formal schools and centres offer comparable curricular content to formal primary schools. They only differ in their ability to provide learning opportunities to persons otherwise left out of formal education (Ekudayo, Non-formal education in urban Kenya: Findings of a study in Kisumu, Mombasa and Nairobi. German Technical Co-operation (GTZ) – Kenya, Nairobi, 2001). This chapter critically discusses the contribution of non-formal education to the achievement of inclusive education in Nairobi Kenya.