New school curriculum key to Kenya’s industrialisation, Uhuru says
President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday defended the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), terming it the key to ushering Kenya into the league of industrialised nations.
Saying the CBC rollout was a success, the President called on Kenyans to move away from viewing informal sector jobs as inferior, saying such jobs offer better pay than those in the formal sector.
“For long we have taught our children that jobs that involve handwork are not quality jobs. But if God has gifted you to be a good welder, farmer, engineer, all these are services a country that is developing requires. We must move away from telling people that the only jobs we need are white collar jobs, that working in a bank is better; in fact, banks are going digital. There are farmers today who earn way better than you teachers, doctors and professors,” he said.
He was addressing the 45th Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KESSHA) Annual National Conference of principals and exhibitors at Sheikh Zayed Hall in Mombasa.
He said the CBC system will equip learners with technical skills needed to steer the country to the league of industralised nations.
“As we progress in ship building, we are looking for quality welders. Of the few that we have, the majority are aging people who learnt the skills many years ago. In fact, the foreigners we have partnered with are saying that once they are done with the ship building project in Kisumu and Mombasa, they plan to poach the old men and take them back to their country because they have admired their quality of work. These are paying jobs and this is where we need to take our children,” the Head of State said.
Uhuru asked the head teachers to encourage their students to embrace the new education system.
“We need to encourage the youth to use those gifts that God has given them. You teachers are better placed to pull out that gift from a child and make them better,” the President told the conference.
He added: “CBC seeks to identify and nurture learners’ potential, emphasise practical learning as opposed to theoretical teaching, and application of knowledge and acquisition of competencies as opposed to routine memorisation.”
