It wasn’t until the 1890s that Kenya was declared a British protectorate. This followed the handing over of the country by the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEACo) after their fall due to bankruptcy. IBEACo had established Machakos as its operational station in the country and the British takeover reinforced it; hence, Machakos became a satellite centre for the exertion of colonial rule in Kenya.
The Fruits of Privilege
Colonialism racially stratified every facet of Kenya, including education. In 1952, the Binns report – mandated to examine educational policy in British Tropical African Territories, recommended the provision of education that befitted Africans in their rural settings. Machakos benefitted from this since, in 1957, a Technical Rural Training School was built there by the colonial Government.
It offered vocational education until January 1958 when it was upgraded to Machakos Technical and Trade School. This move was informed by the colonial government’s intention to prepare African students to become self-employed; thus, the school offered artisan-industrial courses. Instruction at the school ran on a clear schedule. Students had about seven hours of class lessons for five days of the week and undertook four-fifths of the training in workshops. This was until 1962 when the school was renamed Machakos Trade School administered by the Ministry of Education.
Changing Systems and a New Name
In 1964, it was proposed that two-year trade and technical schools be converted to four-year secondary schools. The shift was needed for the diversification of secondary school education. This led to the adoption of a 7-4-2-3 education system with ordinary and advanced secondary school levels. The advanced level was a specialisation hub for crafts such as building trades, tailoring, metalwork, and electrical and electronics engineering. The implementation of a new system led to the conversion of Machakos Trade School to Machakos Technical School in 1967.
The 7-4-2-3 system ran until 1981 when a Presidential Working Party advocated for a change. It was assumed that a new system that emphasised vocational subjects as opposed to academic courses needed to be adopted. Four years after the recommendation, the 8–4–4 system was launched with the hope of enabling school dropouts at all levels to either be self-employed or secure employment in the informal sector. A Commission of Higher Education was put in charge of tertiary education.
Once again, Machakos Technical School found a new name: Machakos Technical Training Institute (MTTI) in 1987. This time, it was strongly rooted in Engineering and Technology, and Hospitality and Tourism disciplines.
Going forward, the prestige attached to university education heightened in the country. By 2007, the National Assembly was teeming with motions on establishing universities in different regions of the country. Ordinary citizens were also conversing nationwide about their exclusion from their share of public university cake.
This desire for a university education, however, was hindered by one factor: the high cost of starting a university from scratch. The only solution was to upgrade existing tertiary institutions to university infrastructure, without undermining non-university education.
The Road to Becoming
In line with this, the government established constituent colleges of existing universities. Through this, MTTI was upgraded to Machakos University College, a constituent college of Kenyatta University, through Legal Notice No. 130, on 16th September 2011.
The establishment of constituent colleges didn’t entirely alleviate education problems in the country. In 2012, another challenge perched on the ministry’s table. The number of students qualified to join universities was at a record high – most of them hailing from poor backgrounds. Exacerbating this was the self-sponsored parallel university programmes that enabled even unqualified rich students to privately enroll.
This challenge prompted a parliamentary sitting that sought to iron out university education to ensure inclusivity in September 2012. This bill saw the mandate of university education transferred to the Commission of University Education (CUE).
In 2013, CUE appointed a University Council to Machakos University College, which was then offering six-degree programmes across its five initial schools. In 2014, the amendment of the Universities Act mandated CUE to establish universities in counties without such infrastructure. CUE, therefore, chartered universities that came into existence in 2013. Machakos University was chartered on October 7th 2016.
A Hope for the Future
The University has been on a journey towards world-class status since then. Informed by CUE’s approval, and as of November 2022, it offers twenty-seven programmes in five faculties to its undergraduate and postgraduate student population of 6, 250.
Like the long-distance traders hailing from the wonderful Masaku where the school is located, Machakos University has come a long way from where it started. Are you a Machakos University alumnus or continuing student? Plug your uni in the comments section!
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