His name was Prof Douglas Odhiambo. The Maseno School and Alliance High School alumnus studied Education degree from Makerere University, Uganda and earned his PhD in Chemistry from Bristol University in London. He taught Science at Kisii High School for six years one of his students being the late former Agriculture and Finance Minister, Simeon Nyachae.
Prof. Odhiambo worked at the University of Nairobi as the Dean Faculty of Physical Sciences in 1971 and the Deputy Vice-Chancellor from 1974. He later became Moi University’s first Vice-Chancellor.Prof. Odhiambo was a member of the Mackay Commission that was appointed by late president Moi to prepare detailed plans and recommendations for the establishment of a second University in Kenya.
Upon the recommendation of the Mackay Report for the establishment of a second University in the country, Moi University was birthed in 1984, and Prof. Odhiambo would become its first Vice-Chancellor. Prof. Odhiambo oversaw the starting of Moi University with only 83 students that had been transferred from the Department of Forestry at the University of Nairobi until 1988. The Mackay Commission also recommended restructuring of Kenya’s entire education system to the current 8-4-4 model from the defunct 7-4-2-3 system.
Adoption of 8-4-4 was touted as a game-changer, aimed at offering learners with pre-vocational skills and technical education. The intention was to produce self-reliant learners ready for the global market.After 26 years, Prof. Odhiambo found himself at the dawn of another historical moment. A 2012 report by a task force he led proposed a 2-6-3-3-3 system to replace 8-4-4, hence the need for curriculum reforms to enable the education system address the changing needs of society. Although later the 2-6-6-3 model was adapted by the Government to replace the 8-4-4 system, it borrowed a lot from Prof. Odhiambo’s model of 2-6-3-3-3.
At the time of his death, Prof. Odhiambo was the first Chancellor of Technical University of Mombasa, having been appointed in 2013 by former President, Mwai Kibaki. He died aged 89.Despite making great strides in the academic world, the softspoken Chemistry Professor also ventured into farming. After his term ended at Moi University in 1988, he retired to his farm in Mariwa, Migori County, where he concentrated on sugarcane and tea farming.
Source: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/academic-giant-who-founded-8-4-4-system-moi-university-58598
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