End this confusion on new school curriculum

Education Cabinet Secretary has plunged the country’s education system into a quandary over the competency-based curriculum (CBC) that has been piloted, in the early grades, for two years now. All along, teachers, parents, children in the affected classes and other stakeholders have been waiting for the CBC to be rolled out in pre-primary to Grade two from next year.

Answering questions from the Senate committee on education, the CS gave the following challenges as hampering the rolling out of the curriculum: lack of necessary infrastructure, inadequate trained teachers and instructional resources.

The CS has been supported by a motley of educational bureaucrats and the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut). The only divergent opinion has come from the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education (Kuppet). Those in the know, however, observe that the suspension of the roll out has been occasioned by lack of finance and resources.

Regardless of what has informed the sudden change of heart by the Government, the truth is that this move is unfair to the curriculum developer, children, parents, teachers and other stakeholders who have been involved in the so-called national piloting that has gone on throughout this year.

President Kibaki

If the problem is finance, why can’t we borrow a leaf from former President Kibaki and what he did in proving the doomsayers wrong with the free primary education programme in 2003? The President dismissed calls from his minister to the effect that there were no funds to implement the programme. Today, all agree that this was one of the hallmarks of Kibaki's presidency.

The truth is that it is painful for those who have burnt the mid-night oil to see the CBC reach where it is today. Can’t this devil in the details be exorcised so that the roll-out can proceed as it had been anticipated?

Publishers have already produced books for the Early Years, teachers have been trained and the piloting has been given a clean bill of health by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) in an early assessment report which gave it a score of 56 per cent, six points above the minimum threshold by international standards. 

All education stakeholders were psychologically set for the new curriculum, which is diametrically different from its precursor.

We have to accept that it is not possible to roll out a curriculum that is totally devoid of flaws. I trust that KICD has been addressing the weaknesses that have been identified during piloting.

Moreover the curriculum will be under constant monitoring and evaluation during its implementation. Why plunge the country into the current state of confusion?

I doubt whether there is any country in the world which has witnessed a similar fiasco. Next door, Rwanda has successfully implemented the CBC. Why can’t we get our act right? Kenya has some of the best curriculum developers and educationists. Can’t we tap their knowledge and expertise?

The world over, countries are embracing the 21st century skills in their education systems. As a country we are in a miasma of confusion and directionless in as far as these skills are concerned in our schools. Don’t we as a country want to compete with our peers from the rest of the world?

Legal hurdles

It is true that there are some legal hurdles in as far as the change from the 8-4-4 to 2-6-6-3 systems is concerned. A sessional paper on the implementation of the CBC should have been discussed and adopted by parliament after passing an Act phasing out the old system and ushering the CBC.

This can still be addressed in the interim by a presidential decree and later be ratified by parliament. This will give the implementation of the CBC the force of law it requires. Moreover parliament can be summoned from recess to address the problem.

Imagine the damage the country will  face by reverting back to the old system after experimenting with the CBC for two years? If the two systems are the same then why did we have to replace the former? Or are the differences more in form than substance? I doubt.

Why do we doubt the ability of our teachers to implement the CBC? Our teachers are competent and I trust that given good in-service, they are up to the task. The books in the market are equally of good quality to be used in the exercise. Other than finance to fund the new curriculum, which are the other resources we have in mind?

Most learners, teachers and parents have been enthusiastic to see the new curriculum see the light of day. Why is the government letting them down? What of the publishers who have already invested colossal amounts of finance and time to develop the learning materials?

The problem we have as a country is that we have ignored seasoned educationists in our midst. This has made us make one miss step after another to the chagrin of our teacher educators. Why can’t matters of education be handled by experts in the discipline? How many of our bureaucrats at Jogoo have a background in education? What role are cronyism and other isms playing in deployment and promotion in the sector?

Poor leadership has been the bane of our education system for eons. This partly explains the confusion we find ourselves in with the implementation of the CBC.We have heard one minute the top bureaucrats heaping praise on the level of preparedness for the implementation of the CBC and in the next  we are treated to the reasons why the implementation can’t kick off.

As a country, let us do our best to roll out the CBC next year as had been envisaged. The adoption of the 21st century skills is crucial in the attainment of the UN’s sustainable development goals and the president’s Four Agenda.

Using our children as guinea pigs creates more harm than good.

Dr Ndaloh is a curriculum, instruction and media specialist. He teaches at Moi university.ndaloagumba@yahoo.com