The politics of educational development in Central and Southern North Nyanza, Kenya, 1904-1939

Abstract

Analysis of the effects of local politics on education was found to De a useful framework for understanding the multidimensional forces that influenced the pattern and pace of educational development among the southern and central Abaluyia in Western Kenya. Overall, four foci of political activity were found to be significant. These included the Administration of colonial Kenya, the missionary factor and ecclesiastical politics, the traditional political system of the Abaluyia; and the African political associations of the 1920s and '30s. None of these was an exclusive category, for there was a certain degree of carryover from one arena of political activity to another. Nevertheless, they comprise a useful framework for analyzing the influence of local politics on educational development. Christian missions and the colonial Administration were the predominent agents comprising the European factor in African education. For the first two decades,various developments restricted the role of the Administration. These' factors included the scarcity of resources, the priority placed on European education, the effects of World War 1 and disagreement concerning the content of the curriculum and the pace of development. The primary effect of this disregard for African education was that the initial responsibility was borne almost exclusively by Christian missions. Not all missions accepted this responsibility with equal resolve. In Western Kenya, the Church Missionary Society promoted educational growth for twenty years before the Mill Hill and Church of God missions followed suit. Initially, this resulted in an extremely varied pattern of development and access to Schools. After 1924 certain factors tended to distribute the effects of education more evenly. From that time, the other missions and the Administration .??? assumed greater responsibility for African education. A partnership gradually evolved between government and missions that had a leveling influence. There were several factors that influenced Africans' involvement in their own educational development. Overall, the two foci of local African politics which influenced the pattern and pace of educational development were traditional Abaluyia politics and the modern-oriented political associations. As for the former, the predominently acephalous political system of the Abaluyia did not constitute a major obstacle to educational development. Pre-colonial antecedents for' inter-clan cooperation enabled local communities to resolve the problem of scale posed by the juxtaposition of local kinship units.

Another aspect of traditional Abaluyia society that facilitated the process of social change was the achievement oriented pattern of recruitment to positions of leadership. The individualism following from this tendency enabled certain aspirants to view education as an alternative means of acquiring status and influence in the local community. In the more modern context, Africans' participation in their own educational advancement was achieved through such political associations as the Kavirondo Taxpayers' Welfare Association and the Native Catholic Union. These associations adopted education as one of their major concerns in the 1920s and '30s. ??? Another approach for analyzing the Africans' role in their own educational advancement is a consideration of the methods by which they implemented their aims. One such method was to work through the system provided by the Administration. This included particularly the utilization of the Local Native Council and the District Education Board. Through local action and the political associations, Africans also created their own channels for extending the educational system. Through all these efforts, Africans in North Nyanza made little attempt to create their own alternatives to mission and government schools. considering the degree of their interest in education and the restrictions that they faced, it is remarkable that they were content to work almost exclusively within the system provided for that purpose.