Use supreme law to protect curriculum, Wanjigi urges

Businessman Jimi Wanjigi wants the Kenyan education system to be entrenched in the Constitution so that any amendment is subject to a referendum.

Mr Wanjigi slammed the government for changing the education curriculum without public participation saying the matter was of great importance and should not be left to government officials. 

He claimed that the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) is far much below the standards of the performance-based curriculum and the government should reconsider it. 

Speaking at Gikoe Primary School during the burial of Eliud Muraya, father to Dr Francis Kamau who is the Economic Advisor to President Uhuru Kenyatta, the ODM presidential aspirant said Kenya should borrow a leaf from the American system of education.

He noted that America's constitution provides that whenever the government wants to change the system of education, a referendum must be conducted. 

"We must uphold an education curriculum that promotes self-reliance and widens the range of employment potential for graduates from both primary and secondary level. That can't be CBC," Wanjigi said. 

There is a petition in court seeking to stop the implementation of CBC over claims that proper consultations were not done before it was rolled out. 

Lawyer Esther Ang’awa, argued that the implementation of the new curriculum will harm the future of the children because teachers were ill-prepared for the rollout.

Ms Ang’awa said CBC had imposed an economic burden on children, teachers, parents, and caregivers.

The national rollout of the CBC started in January 2019 at pre-Primary I and II and Grades 1, 2, and 3 in lower primary.