Education Inequity as Sustained by the “Box” Mindset
By: Collins Otieno, Teach For Kenya Fellow
Every adult today was a child someday whose current realities in different contexts were engineered by different socio-economic factors. Undoubtedly, education remains a significant factor for success and development in any nation. Sadly, many children living in underprivileged societies are denied the chance to realize their full potential due to education inequity. We would view the challenges to equitable quality education from the perspective of the phrase “think outside the BOX.” Though internalized and implemented by many, the phrase has attracted critical skepticism from open-minded scholars. It is in doubt who created the “BOX” and why it was created. I would say the “BOX” symbolizes the implied physical and emotional limitations affecting a child in the underprivileged society. Hence, transformative phrase that, “we can and should think without the BOX” should be normalized.
The plight of the Kenyan child living within the vulnerable society has been encased in the “BOX” for too long. The children have been forced to imagine and act within the limited realms of the “BOX”. The BOX analogy has been sustained by negative attitudes towards education, lack of adequate parent involvement in child education, closed mindset, lack of adequate teachers and resources as well as poverty. Teach for Kenya (TFK) seeks to unshackle the Kenyan child from the bondage of the imaginary “BOX” so that children can be able to realize their full potential and not to be defined by the limits of the “BOX”. TFK is steadfast to achieve education equity and nurture progressive next generation leaders committed towards ending education inequity. This task is not us against the world; but all of us for change and for a better country. Together, we can make it count for the underprivileged Kenyan child.
About the author:
Collin Otieno is a Biochemistry graduate and a Teach for Kenya Fellow, passionate about education because it unlocks human potential and holds the key to solving current and future societal needs.
Addressing education inequity will open doors for great opportunities, growth, development and prosperity.
