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| Kenya loses educationists to brain drain
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Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) -
The educational sector of Kenya is
facing a new threat due to the massive exodus of highly qualified
teachers to the lucrative Southern African market.
Most affected are universities and other institutions of
higher learning.
Observers believe the Kenyan lecturers are leaving local
institutions for greener pastures "down south" because of
frustrations occasioned by low salaries paid them at home.
Informed sources told PANAPRESS that 20 senior lecturers and
professors have left Kenyatta University - one of Kenya's leading
teachers' training institutions.
The sources say that most of the lecturers on the brain
drain are doctoral degree holders heading for Rwanda and other
Southern African universities.
Prominent among the brain drain is the renowned Kenyan
playwright and author, Francis Imbuga who used to lecture at the
Kenyatta University.
Imbuga recently told journalists in Nairobi that he was
forced to look for better employment in Rwanda after being denied
leave of absence to pursue a project.
Another lecturer at the Kenyatta University, Egara Kabaji
also quitted after he was denied job promotion after serving for
eight consecutive years.
"I saw no reason why I had to work as a tutorial fellow for
eight years and have published extensively...some public
universities lack a clear promotion procedure," the East African
Standard newspaper quoted him as complaining in an interview.
The new wave of brain drain from the universities began in
the mid 1990's with the exodus of doctors, paramedics and other
professionals to Southern Africa following a long strike that
paralysed medical services in the country's government-run
hospitals.
The doctors left the country in hundreds after the
government refused to accede to their demands for better pay and
the registration of a medical body, which sparked off the
industrial unrest.
Meanwhile, the World Bank, while commenting on the brain
drain affecting Kenya and Africa in general blames, declining
salaries, frequent university unrest and a repressive
intervention by government as the root cause of the situation.
The World Bank's publication: "Staff loss and Retention at
Selected African Universities," indicates that some 23,000
qualified academic staff emigrate from Africa each year in search
of better working conditions.
"Full professors could be an endangered species," the
publication notes, saying professors and experienced doctoral
degree holders are highly marketable in the international
academic market.
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| Nairobi - 28/05/2001 |
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