Mobile Pastoralists and Education: Strategic Options

Abstract

Learners from nomadic pastoralist communities face peculiar difficulties in accessing and continuing with education programmes whose designs suit sedentary communities. Standard curriculum delivery services which are designed for the majority are tailored for ‘static’ situations where children learn in classrooms in permanent locations. The importance of mobility and young people’s labour to pastoral production, the low population density of many arid areas, and the challenge of ensuring that a national education system is relevant to pastoralists’ needs and values are just some of the reasons why educational participation and achievement is often much lower in pastoral areas of many countries in Africa than the national averages. The situation is worse for girls. This is certainly true of Kenya. The Government of Kenya recognises these difficulties and is committed to overcoming them. This is essential if we are to meet the Millennium Development Goals. The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) is supporting the Government in creating, testing and rolling out a strategy whose primary objective is to ensure that all out-of-school children of school-going age from nomadic populations at primary level access quality education services. This publication is the first of many pieces of research which will help the Government develop informed, creative and practical solutions to the challenges of delivering education to nomadic pastoralists. This literature review, along with other forthcoming papers on the social, technical, economic and legal aspects of nomadic education, is of vital importance in the development of an education strategy that is responsive to the needs of Kenyan pastoralists.