Mudavadi: We’ll abolish new curriculum
Kenya Kwanza Alliance has pledged to abolish the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) saying it had been implemented haphazardly and ignores the interest of parents, learners and other education stakeholders.
Amani National Congress (ANC) party leader Musalia Mudavadi yesterday said the system was implemented without proper consultations and that it was too costly for parents.
“We do not want to play with our children’s future. We will do away with CBC and replace it with a system that is well understood by everyone,” Mudavadi said during the alliance’s tour of Western Kenya.
Ford Kenya Party leader Moses Wetang’ula said the new system was a burden to parents who were already struggling to make ends meet.
Bring normalcy
“We will ensure free education so that all children can have equal access to education. We will also end the confusion brought about by CBC which no one understands…the education system must be changed,” said Wetang’ula.
Former Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Secretary-General Wilson Sossion described the pledge by Kenya Kwanza as a relief to the country.
Sossion, who has raised issues about the implementation of CBC, urged teachers, parents and all workers to rally behind the alliance if they want the new system to be done away with.
“We need to support Kenya Kwanza because we want to bring normalcy in the education system. This is for the interest of all Kenyans,” Sossion told People Daily yesterday.
“I exposed the difficulties of implementing CBC but was fought from all corners. Now that it is a reality in schools, everyone can see that it is impossible,” he added.
The Nominated MP said the country needs to revert to the 8-4-4 system because CBC was not only costly but did not mean well for public education.
He said that the current economy cannot fund the cost of infrastructure to support the new education system.
Uncertain future
Sossion said the 8-4-4 system only requires a review to incorporate an outcome-based system as other countries have done as opposed to doing away with it completely.
“We can get experts to customize the 8-4-4 system to incorporate the 21st Century skills in the existing system without inviting a lot of costs,” he said.
Sossion said even teachers were not well versed with the implementation of the new curriculum.
“No public school can deliver CBC. It is an enterprise that can only flourish in private schools. CBC is impossible because classes are congested with over 30 learners which are so huge for any tangible outcomes,” said the former Knut secretary-general.
Sossion, who is eyeing the Bomet senatorial seat in the August General Election, said the change of the education system should be subjected to a referendum.
Educationist Jasper Ondimu said the future of the new education system was uncertain.
“Politicians are playing into the gallery of most Kenyans who feel disillusioned and exhausted by this curriculum. They are resonating with the concerns of most Kenyans with regards to CBC because the future is very uncertain and unclear. Little is known about its future and how we can successfully roll out the junior and senior secondary,” said Ondimu.
He said the country is inadequately prepared for the new system, stating that even the human resources to implement the next phase was inadequate.
2002 campaign
“If you look at the subjects to be offered in secondary schools, we do not even have teachers from training colleges who have specialised in some of them. The elephant in the room is the cost of CBC since parents are burdened with buying a lot of items,” he stated.
But the Ministry of Education has maintained that implementation of CBC is on course and that there was no cause for alarm.
This is not the first time that education has become a major election campaign issue.
In 2002, for instance, there was heated debate about how the opposition alliance, the National Rainbow Coalition, of Mwai Kibaki would implement Free Primary Education which it had promised to deliver if it won the election.
The then ruling party Kanu said it would be impossible to implement the policy.
Narc won the election and immediately declared that primary education public schools would be free.
