Regional disparities hamper harmonised education systems By CHRISTABEL LIGAMI, Special Correspondent
Disparities in the quality of education, curricula and qualification criteria between the EAC countries are complicating plans to harmonise the bloc’s education system, officials have warned. Experts negotiating on the harmonisation process said while EAC ministers for education, science and technology, culture, sports and youth affairs in July approved a regional report on the harmonisation of EAC education systems and training curricula, the deadline of 2015 may not be met. “The systems need to be evaluated and validated first before they can be harmonised and this could take longer than expected,” said executive secretary of the Inter-University Council for East Africa Mayunga Nkunya. “Most degree courses are similar across the region but the course content, qualifications considered and even the time for the course study is different in almost all the universities,” said Mr Nkunya. East African partner states either use the three cycle education system — Kenya (8-4- 4); Burundi (6-6-4); Rwanda (9-3-4) — or the four cycle system — Tanzania and Uganda (7-4-2-3). “The challenge here is that while a degree course can take four years in Kenya, the same course in Uganda, Rwanda or Tanzania takes three years to complete. This is confusing and a waste of time too,” said Prof Nkunya. Some of the key things to be harmonised are the education calendar; core subjects; years of study; number of study hours and subject content at all levels of education in the partner states and the examination systems, accreditation standards and benchmarks for training institutions. According to Prof Nkunya, experts are currently focusing on a harmonised framework that will have similar qualification criteria, course content and similar time period for each course across the region. The EAC secretariat in its 2013/2014 budget allocated $9.6 million for harmonising education systems and curricula in the five member countries, down from last year’s $10 million. By CHRISTABEL LIGAMI, Special Correspondent *This article first appeared in The East African* * *
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