Competence Based Curriculum was rushed – Taskforce
Competence Based Curriculum was rushed – Taskforce
Public participation hearings on reforming the Competence Based Curriculum by the presidential working party on education reforms came to a close on Friday.
The working party, appointed By President William Ruto has so far visited 37 counties across the country, with the last ten having concluded their hearings.
Stakeholders in Nakuru County have criticized the implementation of CBC, saying it was rushed and schools as currently constituted lack the capacity and infrastructure to implement the system.
On the last day of public submissions to the presidential working party on education reforms and stakeholders did not mince their words in their submissions to the task force chaired by Prof. Raphael Munavo.
Nakuru County Commissioner Gilbert Kitiyo taking a swipe at former education CS Prof George Magoha for compelling head teachers to undertake the construction of Competency-Based Curriculum classrooms, saying some teachers were forced to dig into their pockets to finance the classrooms for fear of reprisals.
“We did a lot of efforts to try and provide infrastructure in terms of classrooms. This thing was rushed and in fact, some of those classrooms were delivered by force, literally..actually some principals had to dig into their pockets,” said Kitiyo.
Parents and teachers have expressed scepticism about the quality of the education offered to learners.
Naivasha MP Jane Kihara said CBC is unnecessarily expensive and discriminatory, putting children from poor backgrounds at a disadvantage.
“Before we even think about CBC, what have we done for the free basic education of our children?” Kihara posed.
She also criticized the heavy parental involvement required, saying it’s akin to taking parents back to school in the capital.
“You find parents have been sent to school to do some work in embroidery for their children. Leaders and stakeholders, whose work is the teacher going to mark, is the parent’s or the student’s?” she stated.
KNUT Nairobi Branch Secretary Macharia Mbugua expressed doubts about the preparedness of learners to sit for grade six national exams, calling for postponement.
“If possible the task force can recommend if it is a must grade 6 do their exams, let them be postponed even for a week for quality preparations,” he said.
Parents called for the government to ensure the proper utilisation of resources and provide the required learning material.
“Kids completing class 8 and going to secondary all across Kenya will leave a lot of unused classrooms which when looked at at a national level will be a lot of wasted space. Let us have kids transitioning to the same schools to avoid this wastage,” a parent, Dr Geoffrey Kaman remarked.
Treasurer of ABET Schools Association Paul Wanjohi added: “You find the government is putting a lot of resources into other areas in total disregard to development of our schools both private and ABET schools.”
The working party will continue accepting proposals from the general public, until the 18th of November.
Stakeholders in the education sector pointed out the need to review the content under CBC, which they say is overwhelming for learners.
Public hearings also took place in Thika, Kiambu, among the 10 counties that wound up the public hearing sessions.
The working party is expected to compile views and provide suggestions on areas to amend, in a bid to improve the CBC system.
