The 8-4-4 system of education is perfect

Critics of the educational system argue the curriculum is overloaded.

I agree with them in principle. An overloaded curriculum is bad for the school system and the society. The Ministry of Education has, however, over years been trimming the 8-4-4 curriculum. Today’s 8-4-4 is less than two thirds what it was upon inception.

The Government has not only reorganised the subjects, but it has also reduced the number of subjects students sit for in the final examinations. What students learn today is similar to what students learned in the previous system in terms of curriculum load. The flaw with today’s system is that we have a breed of school administrators with deficient leadership skills.

Most cannot make a distinction between teaching and learning. Some have created a system where they rush completion of the syllabus and by Form Three third term, students have embarked on Form Four work.

How do they do this? By making students learn before 8am and after supper. But teaching is different from learning. Effective learning depends on effective teaching. Teaching should aim at developing intellectual skills of students and that can’t happen with drab teaching.

Critics talk of university students who can’t solve problems. The students are products of rote learning. The process may have began in primary, sustained in secondary and ingrained at the University. There is nothing wrong with our system. It is poor management of curriculum delivery that is the problem. The solution is to reform teacher training and change how we prepare school administrators.

{Kennedy Buhere, Nairobi}

Education systems are as multi-faceted as they are complex and culture specific. Any criticism must therefore be based on objective overview of the system rather than generalisations. To allude that teachers and principals lead the failure pack is to miss the point.

By condemning teachers, the public forgets curriculum, learning, educational administration and resource allocation, provide synergies without which the education system becomes dysfunctional.

It is misleading for one to imagine a principal and an overloaded classroom teacher can have a magic wand to produce excellent results even in the near absence of essential resources.

{Tome Francis, Bumula}

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KU expulsions missed the point

When I got the news Kenyatta University had expelled, suspended and warned some students, I cried.

The students had revolted over what they termed high-handedness. The expulsions were a wake-up call. Expulsion is the most serious punishment a student can get. When we come to universities, the lofty life with the help of Helbmake us forget where we came from. But the expulsions should teach us nothing justifies destruction of property. A university is the creation of the future. Student leadership is about character not violence. However, the students sent a message to our institutions: We have suffered. Universities have failed to engage students in administration.

{Chrispory Ombuya, Moi University}