Cultural+Elements

​ = = depends on the commitment of its teachers.Football (soccer) is the most popular sport in Kenya, although the national team, the Harambee Stars, has had little international success. Basketball, volleyball, and netball are also popular sports. Social clubs often offer the opportunity for Kenyans to play football and volleyball. Netball is played exclusively by women. Internationally, Kenyan athletes are known for their dominance of athleticism. **
 * Close to 20% of children in some districts of Kenya die before their 2nd birthday. Diarrhea, acute respiratory diseases, measles, and malaria are responsible for 70% of these deaths and can be prevented through a basic educational strategy encompassing informal, formal, and nonformal components. Since the changing of attitudes is essential to such a strategy, educators must pay attention to the elements of culture and incorporate useful aspects into the curriculum. At the same time, cultural beliefs that hinder good health habits and counterproductive superstitions must be eradicated. Some have argued that education is too expensive to provide on a mass scale; however, countries that fail to provide the basic educational services will face even greater costs in the long-term as a result of unemployment and poverty. Cultural factors that have hindered educational efforts in this district include: strong ties with the past, a noncompetitive spirit, a high divorce rate, female circumcision coinciding with the age of school entry, a subsistence existence, a need to use children for domestic chores, and a lack of sex education. The success of an educational program in such areas


 * African peoples indigenous to Kenya, who now form 98% of the population, fall into three major cultural and linguistic groups: Bantu, Nilotic, and Cushitic.An estimated 66% of the population are Christians with about 28% belonging to the Roman Catholic church and 38% belonging to Protestant churches. About 7% are Muslim, with many living in the Northeastern Province, the Coast Province, and the northern region of the Eastern Province. About 1% are Hindu and the remainder practice traditional religions or local branches of Christianity. As in other African states with complex religious histories and some renewal of cultural self-consciousness, it is likely that a majority of ethnic Kenyans also hold some traditional African beliefs. Although there are linguistic groupings of very similar dialects, nearly all the African ethnic groups have their own distinct languages. Swahili, however, increasingly has become an East African lingua franca, and in 1974 it became Kenya's official language, along with English. English remains in wide use in business and government, and parliamentary bills must be drafted and presented in that language. **