" Education Planning and Development in Developing Countries: Focus on PostIndependence Kenya - 1 - ContentsA general introduction .................................................................................................................... 3Results of Initial efforts .................................................................................................................. 4Education Planning: Post Independence Kenya ............................................................................. 6Planning .......................................................................................................................................... 6Educational Planning ...................................................................................................................... 7Educational Planning in Kenya ....................................................................................................... 7The Universal Free Primary Education ........................................................................................... 9Constraints to Educational Planning in Kenya ............................................................................. 11Accessibility .................................................................................................................................. 11Equity in education ....................................................................................................................... 12Quality and relevance of education............................................................................................... 12Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 13Bibliography ................................................................................................................................. 14 - 2 - A general introductionEducation is vital in the development of human persons and has been viewed basically in thelight of primary human rights as well as the civilisation of human beings.The declaration of Human Rights of 1948 (article 26) is clear on this as it states “everyone hasthe right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages.Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be madegenerally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.”(G. Bishop, 1989)This declaration was made in the wake of wide disparities in conditions of living that existedbetween the rich and the poor and between those who inhabited in rural and urban areas a trendthat was common in 1950s. Following this declaration and on the ground of human justice andequity, the objective of Universal Primary Education became a goal common to all countries.Education of the few in the elite world was replaced by mass education of the populationespecially by the newly independent developing countries. The conference of African States onthe development of education in Africa that was held in 1961 in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa,recommended that primary education be universal, compulsory and free by 1980 (ibid). Furtheron this, it was agreed that of the population that completed primary education, 30% of themwould be sponsored to secondary level by the same time (1980). Similar declarations were made by leagues of other nations such as the conference of Arab Statesthat met in Tripoli in 1966 and the Latin American countries in Santiago’s 1962 conference.These too had their timelines set for achievement of educational development goals.All these events had one driving force which was the realization that formal education is one ofthe essential drivers in realization of economic growth. And truly this is the case as waswitnessed then by economic giants of the day that included the US, Japan, Korea and Denmark - 3 -"