When he arrived among the Maasai, Stauffacher became friends with Maasai youths. Among these youths was Molonket Olokiranya Ole Sempele, whose earlier trip to Uganda had exposed him to the Christian message. Upon meeting with the Stauffacher, Molonket was keen to make a follow up of this message and to learn how to read and write. The first record of girls’ participation in school-based education in the Kenyan Maasailand was posted in 1918 by the AIM Siyiapei School that was situated about 16 Kilometres from Narok Township. 1.2 Statement of the Problem Throughout the colonial and post colonial periods, the Kenyan Maasai have not fully adopted the school-based education unlike other societies of the country. The society’s resistance against school-based education may be a product of the society’s negative attitude towards foreign social initiatives. The society considers their culture to be superior to all the other cultures and that any initiative that intended to mar it is strongly opposed. School-based education was introduced and super-imposed on a pre–existing system of indigenous education, which had supposedly relevant curricular contents. The Maasai society has opposed school-based education for their children and this opposition has been greater against the girl-child’s education. Maasai elders and the Chiefs of Narok District, especially during colonial period, viewed girls’ participation in school-based education as a breeding ground for social misfits, hence their overt and covert opposition. This attitude has resulted in a situation where boys were invariably allowed to enroll in schools while most of their sisters remain at home. This study examined levels of Maasai girl-child’s participation in school-based education during Kenya’s colonial and post colonial periods. It also analysed the basis of the attitude behind persistence of this depressed social development with the intention of creating an understanding of this phenomenon, which has been pervasive in Maasai society throughout the twentieth Century. 1.3 Research Objectives This study pursued the following objectives: (a) To examine levels of Kenyan Maasai girl-child’s participation in school-based education in Narok District from 1900 to 1999. (b) To explain how the Kenyan Maasai people’s attitude affected girl-child’s participation in school-based education between 1900 and 1999. 1.4 Research Methodology Data for this study was derived from two techniques: Archival/Library/Museum search and Field study. …show more content…
The Archival/Library/Museum search focused mainly on primary and secondary documentary sources. Such sources were traced, studied and evidence sifted and pieced together to form this article. Primary documentary sources included published and unpublished materials obtained from national, institutional and private libraries, archives and museums. Such materials included records, minutes and annual reports filed by Christian missionaries and government officials such as district education officers, district commissioners, provisional commissioners, provisional education officers, directors of education, among others. Secondary documentary sources consisted of books, theses, dissertations and research project reports. Both primary and secondary sources were obtained from the Kenya National Archives in Nairobi, the National Museums of Kenya in Nairobi and Narok as well as from the libraries of the following institutions: the Kenya National Library Services, University of Nairobi, and …show more content…
Consequently, he summoned all the Chiefs and Headmen for a meeting in Narok Town to address the issue of school-based education for Maasai girls. However, during the meeting, the Chiefs and headmen opposed the Narok District Commissioner as far as the issue of Maasai girls’ education was concerned. Senior Chief Kundai ole Sangale fearlessly expressed his fellow leaders’ attitude towards girls’ school-based education. He reiterated that such an education made girls to despise their culture and the authority of the elders apart from helping them to acquire negative habits such as prostitution (Kenya Colony, 1953). A diminutive man but an epitome of respect, oratory and command, Senior Chief Kundai ole Sangale expressed this attitude on behalf of the rest. Courageously, he faced the District Commissioner opposed him with a sound of