Kenyan Religious Brother Honored in International Award Urges Value-based Education

He cautioned Kenyans against focusing on scoring highly in exams for the sake of capturing attention through the media, saying, “I consider values of solidarity of brotherhood, of family, and of respect for life more important.”

The Kenyan Religious Brother who is currently involved in offering counseling services to youths in secondary schools on the topics of drug and substance abuse said that the country’s education system should refrain from looking at education in terms of paper but in terms of a person.

He said that the country’s education system should seek to nurture a person who will fit well in the society and promote family values rather than just focusing on producing results.

Br. Sifuna said that education that focuses on classroom results only imparts cognitive knowledge that cannot enable a student to fit well in the society.

The CMM member said he does not see the no need to transition from the country’s 8-4-4 system to the incoming Competency Based Curriculum (CBC). He said that the goals in the outgoing system only needed to be implemented.

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“The problem is not with the 8.4.4 system. Our objective of education as stated in the national goals of education are very good, only that they are never implemented,” Br. Sifuna told ACI Africa in the March 28 interview.

Highlighting some of the issues with Kenya's incoming education system, he said, “CBC was an overreaction to 8.4.4; CBC works best in countries with sufficient resources where classes are controllable.”

The Religious Brother who is one of the trustees of the Religious Superiors Conference of Kenya (RSCK) said that the youth need to undergo formation at family level in order to tackle issues of violence and other disasters involving young people in the country.

“We have lost battle with the youth at the family level, because before you meet a person on the street, the person must be rooted somewhere,” Br. Sifuna said, and added, “Our young people need formation at the family level.”

He explained, “Properly formed person will aid you to hospital when involved in an accident rather than robbing you. We must see that the smallest cell of the society, which is the family, is protected.”

The Kenyan Religious Brother however noted that education is not necessarily the cause of evil in society. He said that greed and corruption are on the forefront in derailing the morals of the Kenyan society.

“If the resources that have been wasted in corruption were deployed as intended, we would not be having jobless youth,” he said, and added, “Young people in Kenya have shown willingness in vocational skills. Resources that are looted in this country can be controlled and be used to empower the youth.”

“Giving your kids money from corruption is exactly the same as feeding them poison. Money that is stolen does more harm to your family,” Br. Sifuna said, and added, “Giving stolen money to your kids, you are killing them; you are bringing curses to them.”

He called upon church leaders to refrain from prioritizing materialism for them to evangelize, and added, “What we need is a heart freed from greed and money, that is a heart that will make an impact. When you are a rich Priest or Brother, you will not have the humility to bend to the needs of the poor.”

The member of CMM further told ACI Africa that “our church today has pronounced the importance of money beyond its legitimate need. I know that the church needs money of course, but we have now over pronounced it.”

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Br. Sifuna went on to underline the prophetic role of the church and her leadership. 

He said, “The prophetic role we need to proclaim now is simplicity, serving God with simple means, accepting the logic of the cross in our lives; this means poverty as well because Christ saved the church through suffering and poverty and not through wealth.”

Silas Mwale Isenjia is a Kenyan journalist with a great zeal and interest for Catholic Church related communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communication from Moi University in Kenya. Silas has vast experience in the Media production industry. He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.