Patchwork in CBC review quite unhelpful

Implementation of Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) is still facing teething problems, key among them being shortage of teachers and lack of critical facilities. The present predicament stems from the hurried process of switching from the 8-4-4 curriculum to the new model of teaching.

It is unfortunate that public schools are the most affected, with learners in some institutions yet to get teachers for technical subjects. The impulse decision to reduce learning areas has not eased the staffing crisis.

The crisis may worsen in the next five months when the CBC rolls to Grade 9. Although Education PS Belio Kipsang says 16,000 classes are needed at that level as a matter of urgency, there would still be a shortfall in accommodating learners in over 23,000 public schools hosting junior secondary.

With the government still struggling to absorb interns on permanent and pensionable terms, there is thin prospect of employing new teachers to handle the extra level of learning in CBC. Consequently, more schools are facing a situation where they will not have a roof for Grade 9 learners but also may not have teachers for the new class. Although there will be vacant classes in secondary schools beginning 2025, they will not be utilised because mandarins in education sector pushed to have junior secondary domiciled in primary schools.

Although education is supposed to be the greatest equalizer, learners in public schools are still disadvantaged as their peers in private schools are miles ahead in learning.

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The government missed the mark in the implementation of CBC from the word go. All key officials who raised alarms, including former Education CS Amina Mohammed and educationist Laban Ayiro, were shoved aside leaving the process to be railroaded to the present exigency through management by crisis.

In the present circumstances, recommendations by the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms and proposals in the National Education Sector Strategic Plan 2023/2027 will amount to nothing if the issue of adequate teachers is not urgently addressed.

The current crop of teachers has not been adequately trained to handle CBC classes. Moreover, the refresher courses being offered cannot plug the gap in the teaching process. The ministry should be bold enough to address this challenge. It is noteworthy that some universities have started offering degree courses tailored to meet this need but this remedy is coming too late in the process.

Granted, the CBC education is good. But it is imprudent to have an education curriculum that is good on paper but whose implementation is dogged by a plethora of challenges. The challenges border on the absurd as, in some cases, parents are forced to do assignments for children in lower classes hence short-circuiting the whole essence of learning assessment.

Although the National Education Sector Strategic Plan 2023/2027 has proposed measures aimed at strengthening the CBC, the country needs to do a thorough review of the education system and chart the way forward. More piecemeal adjustments and patchwork in this review process will not be helpful as that will be tantamount to turning our sons and daughters into guinea pigs.