Education stakeholders in Kenya are emphasising the need to instil virtues among the youth as the only solution to curb the rising cases of unrest and disciplinary issues in learning institutions and communities at large.
Speaking during the 2nd African Regional Conference at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD), Higher Education PS Beatrice Inyangala highlighted the critical role played by learning institutions in shaping the youth.
“Education institutions are such a prominent context of character development, second only to home culture in shaping children’s values and character traits. In educational leadership, leaders need to model and manifest character virtues such as noble purpose, forgiveness, humility, integrity, gratitude, empowerment and empathy, “Said the PS
She called on tertiary education faculties to promote and model continuous development of their characters as well as that of their followers -faculty members, support staff and students.
“We need to speak about the character of our education institutions- the character of our college or character of our university. In this sense, the character of moral education literature often invites us to think of the character of an institution as its culture, climate, or ethos. When planting a seed, one tries to create around it the conditions in which that seed can flourish, such as adequate fertiliser, soil, humidity and sunlight, among
others.”PS Inyangala stated
Her sentiments were echoed by the director at the Centre for Character Development, Peter King’ori, who insisted on the need for a national conversation on the characters within communities besides colleges and universities.
“So, we definitely need to initiate a conversation on how we nurture character because if we have citizens with good character, then we have a bright future for our generation, not just here in Kenya but also in Africa. We hope that after this conference, we’ll be able to plan together where we’ll be convening these kinds of conferences within the African continent to bring researchers, practitioners, educators, and school leaders to discuss issues related to good character development, leadership development and education for human flourishing because we believe that our generation needs to flourish. “said Kingori
He added that for young people to excel in life, leaders need to be at the forefront in championing virtues both at home and in learning institutions.
“We need to nurture and to help everyone in Africa to flourish. Our young people need to flourish, our educators need to flourish, our researchers need to flourish. Wherever we are, wherever we are, we really need to work together and help each other flourish, and that’s why in our organisation at the Centre for Character and Leadership our main aim is to champion good character development, champion servant leadership, we champion development of emotional well-being as a foundation that helps individuals and organisations to flourish.”Kingori stated
Samuel Marigat, a Regional Director, Teacher Service Commission in Nairobi, called on the need for collaboration between all learning institutions, parents, and guardians in the country in inculcating good morals to students.
“Character is everything. Character is critical. We are in charge of teachers in this country. So, Teacher Service Commission, we have a value system of being professional, ensuring that we are innovative. And now that our teachers are the ones who are in charge of learners from lower levels, it’s very critical that we hand over the baton to the colleagues at the university. Because again, we have an interesting relationship. “Said Marigat
He stressed the critical role played by teachers in the upbringing of the youths
“And therefore, we need to make sure that the teachers that we get have the right value system, so that the company can get the same to the children. The teachers are also in charge of the schools and the interactive parents. And we need to be able to support parents to be able to make sure that their learners, whether they are university or high school, are all of the right morals.” Marigat continued
PS Inyangala highlighted some strides made by the government in achieving good character development among students through the launch of Values-based Education as a key pillar of Competency-Based Education, marking a great milestone for curriculum reform in Kenya aimed at producing competent and character.
