Recently, I was in need of an illustration for a blog to capture the mind with graphics where logos couldn’t paint pictures.  So, I sent out a word for referrals. Several illustrators sent back their previous work for consideration. One of them stood out and piqued my interest but for the wrong reasons. It was exactly what I didn’t need.

 In the sample, which must have been proudly used for a primary school textbook, was a depiction of a meeting on the front cover. At the center of the cover was a man dressed in a suit holding a title-deed in front of men and women whose dressing were quite a contrast to the man addressing them. A few of them were sitting on a makeshift bench under a tree while the rest sat on the dirt-ground listening attentively and almost submissively to the man. Behind the man addressing the meeting, you could make out a nice chair which was clearly meant for him. A very nice chair while most sat on dirt. He in many ways was the Chairman of the meeting. Surprisingly, the meeting was being held on a clearing surrounded by many trees; a forest! 

As soon as I saw the photo sent  to me on my WhatsApp by a friend from his contact, I started having palpitations just looking at it. Smoke was coming out of my screaming ears and steaming tears. How does this kind of stuff go through Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development in this day and age when we have made a national commitment to create a Competent Curriculum? Is this what’s considered competent? Is the curriculum, it’s language, ebb and the illustrations reviewed by professionals trained in early childhood development and human psychology?  I asked these and many other angry questions to my friend who is also a designer in a way expecting an immediate response but he was no spokesperson for the Institute nor the designer. So, pin-drop silence was all I heard. He was simply perplexed as I aimed all the arrows in my frustrated quiver at him, almost killing the messenger.  

This illustration  of men and women sitting on dirt surrounded by the forest was not only the depiction of what’s wrong with our education system but why our economy is a network of drainage of money abroad. It was also the reason why we have become a magnet of debt and consequent debt-slavery.  First, while grade 2 kids in other countries are coding, creating mini circuits, building miniatures robots and making amateur rockets; our textbooks are teaching our kids about Barazas with grown  men and women sitting on dirt in formal meetings. 

This subliminal exposure to the life they ‘should’ aspire to at an age when in developmental psychology they are most industrious is a total disservice to a generation and a nation. Instead of creating creative minds, we are programming domination, blind submission and lack of chairs while surrounded by forests. With these kinds of learning materials, we’re simply dimming the mind when it is most curious. This is the kind of learning material that turns off the bulbs in our kids’ brain permanently. Is  this perhaps the goal? The moribund philosophy that mints submission, sheep-following and worship of leaders even by the faithful. I guess it’s easier to govern peasants than generals. I suppose it’s easier to control consumers than producers. Is this a deliberate program to create a nation of peasants or simple submissive consumers?

Why were men and women sitting on the ground in a formal meeting while surrounded by trees? Infact, the meeting was held under a tree surrounded by trees. A forest! Why was a chair a status symbol in the middle of a forest? Where do chairs come from?

I didn’t see the inside of it but this book meant for our kids must be prosecuted, tried, judged, sentenced and incarcerated by its cover. The cover was its best foot forward and it is failing our kids miserably. Unfortunately, it’s not the only book I have seen since dimming bright minds. Books sanctioned by Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development. Books from Disministering of Education. Books whose inside I have seen. And darkness is what’s mostly inside. Darkness dimming bright minds. The hatchery of a begging nation. Begging those who learn from light. Books not worth the paper or the ink on their pages. Books that shut minds permanently. Books in our schools and our kids’ heavy backpacks. Books that are not worth the name.

Inside these kinds of  books, you will not find the desperately needed lesson at a time when the mind is most curious.  The lesson that most human problems are solved by trees. Our clothes, beddings and bandages are made of cotton from trees. Our furniture are trees that have undergone metamorphozing processes under skillful fingers. Toilet paper and all papers we use to deliver news, to convey books, to wrap and contain packages are trees transformed by skillful minds and hands. Trees create habitat we call home in roofing beams and walls. Some trees knock the s out of soil and give us oil like the avocado and the olive tree. Others make modern transportation possible by clothing the rim with rubber for a less bumpy ride whenever our travels lead us. 

Our bodies depend on trees for nutrition for living and medicine for repairs. In fact, humans without oxygen die in mere minutes and therefore without trees humanity would breathe its last. Most of our power is from rivers whose water is captured by trees on mountains and hills. Our land keeps deserts away by the force of trees. Show me a beautiful place and a peaceful space and I will show you a place with trees complemented by grass. 

Trees are central to creating Money Circles in Africa. When we import furniture, toilet paper and toothpicks, we are importing trees and draining money while at it. To process these products in Africa is to create money Circles. To keep money here. Wealth circularating to employ our idle men above 18 who if not properly skilled will create threat to peace and stability in short years. Our coconuts and avocados must participate in keeping our money in our pockets. Mangoes that go to waste every season must reduce our dependence on imported oil by creating ethanol for blending. 

This will not be achieved through randomness but national strategic planning and scheduling. Exactly what’s not  being inspired by our textbooks when it’s most needed. We can backward-schedule from the aggregate need to figure out how many trees we need to plan for each product yielded by trees. 

Let’s use the example of the Toilet Paper:-

If 40 millions Kenyans use one roll of toilet paper per week, Kenya needs 2 billion rolls of toilet paper per year. To appreciate the power of the aggregate rolls of toilet paper each at Ksh. 20 translate to Ksh. 40 billion on this hygiene product. A single tree yields 800 rolls of toilet paper. Therefore Kenya needs 2.5 millions of trees per year to supply toilet paper. On average each acre can host 500 trees which means Kenya needs 5,000 acres of pine trees to supply toilet paper in one year. But pine takes 15 years to mature. So we need a 15 year plan and 75,000 acres dedicated to toilet paper to keep money circulating in Kenya. But the schedule starts with a trained mind in early childhood when the brain is primed for learning.

We can tackle wastage of our most abundant resources which is human capital by this kind of master scheduling and planned manufacturing around trees. But we cannot plan for a productive economy if our books are teaching our kids to sit on dirt in formal meetings hosted by a CHAIRman next to many thousands of trees. Competency Based Curriculum must be competent. Any Chairman shouldn’t be the only one sitting in a chair in meetings everywhere in this nation which is endowed with many forests!

You as a parent should not simply just buy books for your kids just because the school said so, take a peak inside for yourself. It will prompt you to hold the Principal of your school accountable! And remove darkness from our schools.

Robert Mwangi, MBA is the Author of the books President’s Advisor, Money Circles, Five Fingers and Dollar Altar. He also composed and sung ZIBA UFA