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Kenya: Catholic Head Urges Review of Church Role in Schools Print E-mail
Written by CISA   
Tuesday, 30 September 2008
The time has come for the Catholic Church to reexamine its role in public education in Kenya, John Cardinal Njue, the archbishop of Nairobi, says.

The post-election violence early in the year and the recent spate of violent protests in secondary schools should serve as a wake up call for the Church, which is extensively involved in the provision of education, said the cardinal. He is the chairman of Kenya Episcopal Conference.

The Church should "re-evaluate its role in provision of quality education and holistic formation in schools. This is a time the Church has to revitalize her evangelization in schools."

Njue spoke on Wednesday at the opening of the Catholic International Education Office (OIEC) meeting in Nairobi.

The Catholic Church has played a key role in education since the missionary days. Missionaries realized that it was not possible to spread the Gospel of Christ to the people without giving them basic education, the cardinal said.

After independence, the church surrendered to the government the many schools it had founded but retained the role of sponsor.

This role has come under scrutiny in the face of the annual students' unrest, with some observers saying churches no longer saw as a priority the spiritual and moral formation of young people in schools. The Catholic bishops of Kenya said sponsors "are now sponsoring educational institutions only in name."

Cardinal Njue said Catholic schools have a responsibility to develop the whole person through effective teaching of Christian Religious Education, the Program of Pastoral Instruction and provision of pastoral care.

"Catholic education promotes believe in Christ, inculcates gospel values, promotes human dignity, commitment, justice and peace. The strikes witnessed recently in some secondary schools in Kenya were an indication of failure to instill values and discipline in young people."

For this reason, the cardinal said, "the Church needs to revisit the approach of teaching catechism to children and young adults [and] enhance provision of pastoral care and chaplaincy services in all educational institutions."

He further said the Church welcomed the government initiative to review the school curriculum with a view to instituting changes on content to reflect national development goals.

The cardinal challenged school heads, teachers, the clergy and education officials to strive to make schools "not only centres of academic excellence but also centres of love, peace, justice and hope."
Last Updated ( Monday, 29 September 2008 )