They tell the child
choose early
name your talent at ten
and carry it like a passport.
They say
the West did it this way
as if history were a template
and hunger a choice.
They forget
those countries built safety nets
before they taught children to walk the wire.
There, falling is survivable.
Here, the ground is hard.
Our engineers steer motorcycles,
their degrees folded in plastic bags.
Teachers wait by the roadside of policy,
qualified and unemployed.
Athletes run on empty stomachs
while medals gather dust in speeches.
Do not insult the child
by calling this a skills problem.
Curriculum does not create jobs.
Politics does.
Markets do.
Institutions do.
8-4-4 knew this, imperfectly,
so it taught many doors, not one key,
allowed wandering
before naming destiny.
CBC asks children to specialise
before the country specialises in justice.
It trains responsibility downward
and excuses power upward.
Change the syllabus if you must,
but first rewrite the state.
Shida haiko kwa watoto wetu.
Shida iko huko juu.
- By Dan Bw’Onyancha, Seasoned Poet