Why do young refugees in the Dadaab camps in Kenya aspire to gain resettlement-based scholarships for tertiary education when the odds of getting them are minimal? The existing literature sheds light on the strong educational aspirations of refugee youth. However, our understanding is obscure of why they persistently pursue lofty educational goals…

This article argues that the "airlift" language often used to describe the eight hundred Kenyan students who attended US and Canadian universities between 1959 and 1963 is misleading. It assumes that the students were being plucked out of substandard education, yet these youth had received some of the most rigorous education in the…

This paper reports the results of a study that investigated secondary school learners' perceptions of the influence of their science and mathematics teachers' nonverbal communication on their aspirations to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) related courses in institutions of higher learning. The study further…

This article explores a number of themes concerning the way in which education discourses position, problematise and respond to pregnant and parenting girls. Much of the literature centres on a discourse which celebrates a certain type of parenting girl, who returns to school thanks to determination and a silencing of other identities. This idea…

In this qualitative study, I investigated the ways in which refugee youth in Kakuma Refugee Camp in northwestern Kenya perceive the extent to which the camp schools have provided them with educational capabilities that can enable them to reach their aspirations and goals, within the difficult conditions under which they live and learn about the…

The youth population bulge in Kenya comes with so many challenges such as poverty, gender inequalities, political inequities, the absence of adequate health and medical resources, low educational attainment, homelessness, increased involvement in violence, drugs, and alcohol, poor physical and mental health, a lack of key life skills, premature…

This study sought to establish the relationship between depression and pathological internet use (PIU) among university students in Kenya. The study used correlational design to establish the relationship between the variables. The target population was university students in Kenya. Convenience sampling was used to sample students from one public…

This study documents the aspirations and apprehensions of youth as they complete secondary schooling in Kakuma Refugee Camp. Navigating contradictory discourses about the value of education, school-leavers approach postsecondary opportunities with attention to social status hierarchies, economic viability, and collective expectations for…

An essentialist, "traditional", Maasai gender ideology that poorly reflects the day-to-day gender realities of residents is being reproduced and dominating in the modern schooling setting of a Maasai community in Southern Kenya. Through an ethnographic analysis based on long-term fieldwork and mixed-method approaches, this paper explores…

We explore the concerns, challenges, aspirations, and expectations of sub-Saharan African youth, and investigate how these youth cope with neighborhood constraints to aspiration achievement. We draw on cross-sectional survey data from 4,033 12-22-year-olds (50.3% males) from two Kenyan urban slums and subsequent in-depth interviews conducted with…

Higher education is a key factor in a nation's effort to develop a highly skilled workforce for competing in the global economy. In this paper, current trends in accessibility, equity, participation and financing of higher education in Kenya are examined. The paper explores the challenges which need to be confronted and discusses the way forward…

There is a sound research base attesting to the importance of parental involvement and to the many potential benefits it can offer for children's education. This study sought to examine differences in parental aspirations (as a mechanism of parental involvement in their children's education) for their children's educational attainment between slum…

Children's adaptive preference and capabilities are considered in relation to literature on children's voice, agency and adult adaptation. Data collected for projects on gender and schooling in South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria are analysed to show how adaptation and distinctions between absolute and relative poverty are helpful in…

This article examines how recent changes, leading to a diversified supply in Kenya's university education system, is reflected in prospective students' aspirations, perceptions and preferences to undertake university education. The results, based on a combination of a convenience and snowball sampling of settings, within which random samples of…