General knowledgeNo, not a military strongman, but the stuff of an intellectual coup for the students in a regional African quiz show.
The nineteenth century Oxford University scholar John Cardinal Henry Newman described a university as a place where men are educated and not merely instructed. Instruction is the transmission of functional or technical knowledge. One is instructed for instance in the useful arts, in trades and in business. For Newman, university education has a wider scope. Its aim is the communication of what he called "liberal" knowledge, which he defined using terms such as "knowledge that is sufficient for itself", or "knowledge capable of being its own end". This idea is as old as Aristotle.
But in our materialistic world, who pursues knowledge for its own sake? Plenty of young people, if their response to the television quiz show Celtel Africa Challenge is anything to go by. "It is amazing what these kids know," says Mr Paul Ochieng, Dean of students, Strathmore University, Kenya. "As a university with a bias in business, I was apprehensive we would not get the calibre of students to compete against liberal arts or students pursuing science based degrees. But we were pleasantly surprised." The students know lot of stuff, from contemporary African music to ancient civilization, from Latin to history of grand slam tennis. They are clearly citizens of the information age, adept at exploring electronic encyclopedias, at home with pay TV or on the streets with I-pods, while still comfortable with foolscap notepads in class. Celtel is a mobile phone company operating in sub-Saharan Africa and the quiz show is part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme." Celtel chose to invest in education because an investment in education is an investment in the future," says Mr Bashar Arafeh, the company's vice-president for East Africa. The show also gives a different dimension to television in Africa. The tube is a great educational tool, but it has come under criticism for promoting negative societal values and making the disruption of family and social life acceptable, if not actually hip -- especially among young people with impressionable minds. Nowhere are the effects of television more vilified than in Africa. Like everything else in Africa, the small screen is a perpetrator as well as a victim of the continent's material and increasing moral poverty, and if western TV content is adverse for western culture, it is truly insidious for Africa. Some African governments like Kenya's have tried to promote local content and at the same time regulate foreign content. But this does not quite work. Celtel has organised Africa Challenge to be televised in five Eastern and southern Africa countries -- Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, and Malawi every week from February 17 to May 25. One of the TV stations, Kenya's NTV, is available on YouTube. The series will feature 16 universities. The show has all the ingredients of a local production with an eye to a globalised world. The protagonists are local in three senses: the students are known to their colleagues, viewers identify with the universities, and the countries involved are regional neighbours. The content has a leaning towards Africa with a tinge of the global. The interaction of students during the show is also a very noble thing. African borders insulate its people from one another. If Africa hopes to develop socio-economically, it has to bring down the barriers that separate its people. Celtel is already doing this by developing and implementing mobile telephone technologies that don't recognize boundaries laid by colonists. "Europeans are now asking us how we implemented a cross-borders network that brings down the cost of mobile telephony across borders," Mr Arafeh says. With the quiz show, the company is putting education in its regional platform too. Africa's living legend Nelson Mandela said that education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. Celtel is using education to do just that. Eric Kathenya is the coach of Strathmore University's Celtel Africa Challenge Team. |
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If you ask most university students anywhere in the world why they are in school, they will most likely tell you they are there preparing for a career in a certain profession. That is fine. But that was not the original purpose of university education.
Comments (9)
Seamus Grimes said...Having had the opportunity to get to know many young graduates in Kenya this year, I would be very optimistic about the future, despite the recent sad events.
Living in a world where migration and educational links are bringing our countries closer will also help to spread a deeper understanding of our cultures and provide a good basis for making real progress.
Ireland | Friday, 15 February 2008 at 9:28 pm
Adebowale Oriku said...Thanks to Eric Kathenya for highlighting the the difference between instuction and education. A better recognition of this in Africa will be a good thing. Cetel Africa Challenge is praiseworthy, I hope other big companies and multinationals in Africa would emulate this sort of gesture.
-- | Saturday, 16 February 2008 at 6:06 pm
kefa said...I am really proud today, that someone knows we are not in a university just for “education” , its much more than that.
But i wonder , since he highlihghts that University students are educated why are we examined?
Kenya | Tuesday, 19 February 2008 at 9:57 pm
BARTHELOMEW NAMWOSO NAMASAMBU said...UNIVERSITY EDUCATION IS A VERY INTERESTING THING BECAUSE STUDENTS ARE NOT TRAINED BUT ARE LEARNED MEANING THEY CAN BE CAPABLE OF DOING ANY THING AND ARE FLEXIBLE ADOPTING ANY ENVIRONMENT
Kenya | Saturday, 23 February 2008 at 6:28 pm
kipchumba said...Yes we need more of such,we need to have people encourage youth to dream and live their tommorrow before it come!That way the young are prepared!!!!
Kenya | Monday, 25 February 2008 at 10:57 pm
leonard njeru said...Quite an informative opinion by Kathenya. No doubt the university serves a crucial part in dissemination of knowledge and emancipation from intellectual inhibition. It’s both a forum to learn a new outlook to life as well as to unlearn what ought to be let go of.
Kenya | Thursday, 28 February 2008 at 4:18 am
Tom Ogol said...Being a member of last year’s (2007) Celtel Africa Challenge winning team (Egerton University), i second Kathenya’s piece of information.
Never before have education matters been given such attention and support in the media in Africa,all kudos goes to Celtel for being a pioneer in developing an informative and at the same time entertaining programme.
My experience enabled me to appreciate diversity and that common knowledge is a unifying factor. Africa has lots of potential,most of it lies in the brains of our young people often which is underutilised.
It’s high time we make that knowledge benefit the continent...am sure everyone has an idea how.But how much will power is there for us to achieve this?
Kenya | Monday, 3 March 2008 at 10:33 pm
Eric said...Kefa wonders: ‘University students are educated why are we examined?’ There are two reasons. 1. Exams make students study. 2. exams gauge how well students are learning
-- | Thursday, 13 March 2008 at 12:29 am
Laban Mosoti Ogechi said...As a former winner with Tom Ogol and Mildred of Egerton and a former strathmore student I believe the modern empires are empires of the mind a challenge i place squarely on my peers and lecturers alike. All I say is that the future is the battle field that favors the prepared.
Kenya | Sunday, 23 March 2008 at 3:23 am
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