Local native councils LNC’s asked the government to provide high schools but this request was vetoed by the government and missions (Wamagatta, 2009) who were wary that Africans might use higher education to fight for their political rights. In addition, “many whites, including the Director of Education, were advocates of social Darwinism and believed that the Africans brain capacity was inferior to that of the whites and hence the uselessness of trying to attain higher educational qualifications” (Wamagatta, 2009, p. 84).

 

In 1928 in Kikuyu District, only 13,000 of half a million children were enrolled in elementary school and the Kikuyu were anxious to preserve many of their traditions in the face of colonialism. Education became another anti-colonial platform used by the Kikuyu Central Association (KCA), a political group contesting oppressive policies such as colonial government seizing African lands and imposing an internal pass system on Africans (Natsoulas, 1998). They began to grow impatient with the slow response to their educational and political demands. The Independent Schools movement would develop as a self-help attempt by Africans to create schools for Africans that would meet their education needs in the colony of Kenya.

 

The Independent Schools Movement

 

In 1929, a conflict erupted between the church and the Kikuyu ethnic group over female circumcision and approximately 90 percent of Kikuyu parents boycotted mission schools. (Natsoulas, 1988). Mwakikagile ( 2000) points out that female circumcision in itself did not cause the conflict but merely brought to the fore latent Kikuyu frustrations brought about by issues such as land alienation, forced labour and taxation and led to a greater determination among the Kikuyu to preserve their traditional way of life. Many felt that the reason female circumcision became an issue while male circumcision did not was because the west practiced male circumcision.

 

Following the boycott of the mission schools in 1929, the Kikuyu parents petitioned the director of Education to provide non-mission schools (Wallbank, 1938: Natsoulas, 1988). The Church of Scotland Mission (CSM), other missions and the government were opposed to this. As the government hesitated, the Independent African School Association opened independent schools and “A Negro Bishop from South Africa was brought to organize a native church in conjunction with these independent African schools” (Wallbank, 1938, p. 530). Two educational organizations were formed – the Kikuyu Independent Schools Association (KISA) and the more militant Kikuyu Karinga Educational Association (KKEA). KISA and KKEA would later collaborate to open an independent teachers training college – the Kenyan African Teachers College. (Mwakikagile, 2000).“Independent schools stressed Kikuyu culture and pride in being a Kikuyu, and related stories about Kikuyu land and culture. Although customs such as female circumcision and polygamy were not encouraged, they were not overtly discouraged……….These practices were meant to instill in the youth self-pride, cultural identity and self-reliance” (Natsoulas, 1998, p. 303).

 

In 1929, the Department of Education responded by declaring in its Annual Report that “All native taxpayers have an equal claim upon educational services financed or assisted by the State and the facilities afforded must be so arranged as to be acceptable to Christian, Mohammedan, and Pagan alike” (Wallbank, 1938, p.530) and finally released funds to build eleven modern government primary schools. Despite this, the independent school movement continued to grow. KISA and KKEA set up committees to raise money for the independent schools and the government syllabus was adapted to provide for the new opportunities opened up by colonialism (Adebola, 1981) even though these positions were often not available to Africans.

 

Nabwea (2009) writes about how colonial administrators limited Africans’ access to the English language to ensure they remained low cadre employees and qualified for no jobs higher than wage labourers. Independent schools started teaching English a grade earlier than mission schools as many Africans believed that lack of knowledge of English had been used to keep Africans in subordinate positions. Many parents were now sending their children to independent schools instead of mission schools. In response, the Church of Scotland Mission (CSM) stated “we have suffered irreparable damage by the policy adopted [by the government] forcing us to stop English and allowing the independent schools to do it” (Adebola, 1981, p. 56).

 

At the DC’s meeting in 1931, the government determined that it could not prevent the independent schools from opening. “Under Kenya’s education ordinance, schools with certified teachers could not be prohibited, though the teachers had to conform to the department of education’s requirements” (Natsoulas, 1998, p. 292). “By 1936, Nairobi concluded that the independent school movement had arrived at a point at which any attempt to suppress or ignore it would be politically harmful” (Natsoulas, 1998, p. 296).

 

Adebola (1981) states that in 1936, the government attempted to take control over the independent schools. The Director of Education appointed an Inspector of Schools who along with three Kikuyu ‘itinerant’ teachers were to keep an eye on the schools ensuring they adhered to the government syllabus. The schools did not cooperate - particularly with the inspector who they saw as trying to take away their schools. As a result some schools were ordered closed, but they refused to close their doors. The teachers were fined and they appealed to the Secretary of State for the Colonies in London “informing him that despite the lack of educational facilities, the government was trying to discourage those who were prepared to help themselves” (Adebola, 1981, p. 58). Liberal Members of Parliament in London raised the issue in the House of Commons after which the Secretary of State wrote a letter to the Governor of Kenya criticizing the heavy fines imposed on the teachers and suggested Kenya limit moves which could be interpreted in Britain as limiting African aspirations.

 

“To make sure they benefitted from formal education, Africans established Independent schools, which were for Africans and run by Africans. These schools offered academic education to Africans and incorporated African culture in Christianity…..Independent schools generally were opposed and criticized by the Europeans, the African schools movement grew stronger and stronger, so by the time of the Emergency in 1952, there were about four hundred Independent schools” (Eshiwani, 1993, pp. 17-18)

 

In 1951, most of the independent schools rejected the Beecher Plan. Peter Gatabaki told the Kikuyus that this plan would ensure that only a few Africans were educated while the bulk would work as labourers on white farms (Adebola, 1981). In 1952, the colonial administration declared a state of emergency. Leaders of the independent school movement were arrested and independent schools were closed after they refused to be managed by the District Education Board or the missions (Adebola, 1981). Colonial officials stated that the leaders and schools were involved in the Mau Mau Uprising. However, the state of emergency simply provided the opportunity for the colonial government to do what it had long wanted to do – suppress the independent schools movement (Adebola, 1981; Natsoulas 1998).

 

Mission Schools in Kenya

 

In 1945, after World War II, higher education was rare in Kenya and Africans were demanding more higher education. There were 395 secondary school students. Only two were girls. (Burton & Charton-Bigot, 2010). Two schools in the colony provided African secondary education. Alliance High School , established by the Protestant Mission in 1926, was the only place where Africans could take the highest diploma – the Cambridge School Certificate in 1945. Only fifteen students passed this examination that year (Burton & Charton-Bigot, 2010). Carey Francis was its School Principal and he is credited with contributing to the very high standard of education at Alliance. Paradoxically, Carey Francis was also integral in developing political consciousness in his students at Alliance by his failure to recognize their social, political and economic aspirations. (Burton & Charton-Bigot, 2010).

 

“The best educated Africans in Kenya – those who have passed the school certificate and especially those who have studied at Makerere are seldom doing real jobs of work. This is to be deplored. The chief reason is that these men instead of getting down working, go to continual ‘courses’ overseas…Some courses are unsuitable, a waste of time, a very great waste of money because men are kept from and sometimes incapacitated for the planned ordinary jobs they might have done and which so greatly need to be done. I know of no one who has clearly benefited from an overseas course. Some have clearly been harmed, some ruined. Even those who are unsuccessful in getting overseas are damaged; they long to go and their minds are taken from their work” (Burton & Bigot, 2010, pp. 92-93).

 

After World War II, more opportunities developed for Africans seeking higher education. Colonial bursaries provided financial assistance to students who could not afford to go abroad; however the process was selective and only about three students a year were selected. American, Indian and South Africans responded to Africans’ appeals for more education by offering scholarships. There was still no university in the colony. Despite this lack of university and despite lack of suitable jobs for Africans, some African students would find a way to go abroad, get a university degree and return to the colony before independence where they assumed key positions after independence.