Kakamega High School and the concept of holistic education

If there is one school that I hold in esteem, when it comes to holistic education in Kenya it is Kakamega High School. I mean, when it comes to academics, Kakamega High School always manages to deliver a decent performance, year after year. When it comes to sports, Kakamega High School is considered a powerhouse. And when it comes to other extra-curricula activites like drama and music festivals, you tend to find that Kakamega High School is still an institution that cannot be wished away.

What we learn from Kakamega High School is that academic excellence and excellence in the extra-curricula activities doesn’t need to be mutually exclusive. It is still possible for a school to be good both in academics and in extra-curricula activities. In fact, a school should aim for excellence in both academics and in the extra-curricula activities, if at all it is to produce well-rounded graduates who can handle life ‘out there’. The last things you want to be producing as a school are ‘nerds’ who are only good at reading books but unable to deal with the real world which often requires the sorts of abilities that are best cultivated through the extra-curricula activities. Of course, one can only hope that Kakamega high school will be able to keep up in its balanced approach to education (as it has done so far over the decades).