Abstract:
Kenya, like the rest of the world, is grappling with the problem of undesirable character among its citizens. Whereas the country’s system of
education identifies character formation as one of the aims of its
education, the same is not reflected in the pro
ducts of the system. This
paper sought to reflect over the whole affair of character formation, with
special focus on why schools have not been able to successfully achieve
this important learning outcome. The paper, drawn from an earlier
analytical study
on pedagogies of character formation among Kenyan
schools, exposed the underbelly of society in general, where the latter
passed as a major impediment towards character formation efforts. Some
influencers, among them showbiz celebrities and political icons
, proved
quite impressionistic to youngsters, hence drawing them into the vices
they portrayed. Families, on the other hand, had not fully lived up to their
primary duty of moulding children into righteous beings, and various
reasons were advanced. However
, schools, despite their infirmities, were
established as the better option, owing to their relatively structured way
of forming character among children. Whereas they were variously
blamed for the mess in the society, they still remained the only reliable
agent that the country relied on
–
given the professionalism within them,
and the amount of time children spent there. It is for this reason that the
paper advocated the strengthening of character formation programmes in
schools, specifically, finding way
s through which knowledge on and
conviction for good character could best be communicated to learners.
