Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has assured Kenyans that the government will not abolish the contentious Competence-Based Curriculum (CBC) but improve it.
Speaking during the 94th edition of the Kenya Music Festival in Kisumu yesterday, Gachagua said the government will set up a task force to address areas of concern in the CBC curriculum in consultation with the relevant stakeholders including parents.
“Our intention is not to abolish the syllabus but retain what is good and improve what is causing concern,” said Gachagua.
“When that team is unveiled and will be going around the country, please don’t just complain at home or in market centres…please turn up and present these people with your views on what you think should be done to improve CBC and the entire education system.”
During his inauguration, President William Ruto had said that he will establish an Education Reform Taskforce to review CBC.
According to Ruto, the taskforce will collect views from all key players in line with the constitutional demand of public participation and advise on its fate before January 2023.
“We will establish an Education Reform Taskforce in the Presidency which will be launched in the coming weeks. It will collect views from all key players in line with the constitutional demand of public participation. We are particularly alive to the anxieties of parents on the twin transitions of the last 8-4-4 class and the first CBC class in January next year. I assure that there will be a solution to the matter before then,” he said.
Ruto had earlier pledged to abolish CBC, however, he made a major turnabout promising a hybrid system of education if his Kenya Kwanza Alliance (KKA) wins the presidency.
This is after the team that worked on the proposals for the education sector advised the DP that abolishing the CBC would be costly to the parents and the government.
Ruto acknowledged that the CBC is good but said a KKA government would review the curriculum to incorporate public input.