Education in Kenya - History

History

Historical records from the travels of Johann Ludwig Krapf and Johannes Rebmann reveal that Kenyans had access to education as far back as 1728 with a Swahili manuscript Utendi wa Tambuka (Book of Heraclius) attesting to the fact. The CMS missionaries interacted with locals in the coastal town of Mombasa and set up one of the earliest mission schools in the country at Rabai in 1846.

With the expansion of the railway from Mombasa to Uganda, the missionaries expanded their work into Kenya's interior. An attempt to set up a school and mission at Yatta in 1894 was resisted by the Kamba tribe. The missionaries then penetrated into western Kenya and set up schools and missions. The first school in western Kenya was established at Kaimosi in 1902.During the colonial era, the number of Kenyans with exposure to education steadily increased and a good number of them were privileged to proceed abroad for further education. Among those who furthered their education abroad in the colonial era were Jomo Kenyatta, who attended Woodbrooke College and London School of Economics, Charles Njonjo, who attended Grays Inn Law School, Peter Mbiyu Koinange, who attended Columbia University, Mwai Kibaki who attended London School of Economics, R. Mugo Gatheru who attended Roosevelt University, Tom Mboya, who attended Ruskin College, Oxford, Masinde Muliro, who attended University of Cape Town, Julius Gikonyo Kiano who attended Stanford University, Paul Ngei and Barack Obama Sr., who attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Julius Gikonyo Kiano was the first Kenyan to obtain a Ph.D. He returned to Kenya and was instrumental in establishing a school in Githunguri. The trend steadily rose over the years and by the time of independence in 1963, 840,000 African children were attending elementary school.