Primary Schooling in Burundi and Kenya: Preparation for Secondary Education or for Self-Employment?

Primary school expansion in African countries during the independence period has exacerbated a dilemma confronting educators and policy-makers since colonial times: should the purpose of primary schooling be to educate an elite for secondary schools, or should it be, instead, to prepare students for self-employment? Findings are reported from a series of studies of primary schooling conducted in Burundi and Kenya since 1985. Both countries employ selective examinations for admission to secondary schools that emphasize academic achievement in subjects taught in metropolitan languages, notwithstanding reforms that promote vernacular language instruction and prevocational studies. As long as some children go on to secondary school, primary schooling will not be reformed on the sensible premise that it is the terminal stage of schooling for most children. Nevertheless, the opposition between prevocational and academic education may be a false dichotomy; academic instruction can be organized in ways that facilitate self-employment, whereas prevocational training can be strengthened by linking its objectives and content more closely to subjects that are central to preparation of students for secondary education.