Nelson Havi moves to court seeking CBC roll out stopped

Law Society of Kenya (LSK) President Nelson Havi has moved to court seeking interim orders stopping the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) roll out.

This comes barely two weeks after Havi said that he will challenge the new curriculum after being informed by cries from parents, guardians and teachers. 

On behalf of the petitioner, lawyer Esther Awour Adero, Havi said the roll out of the new curriculum primarily on the basis of the Basic Educational Curriculum Framework of 2017 and the Sessional Paper 1 of 2019 on curriculum reform constituted a violation of the Basic Education Act and the Constitution.

“The action by the Education Ministry to implement the new curriculum is unlawful and prejudicial to the future of the children of Kenya and ought to be halted,” read the petition.

The petitioner argued that actions by Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha, the Kenya Institute for Curriculum Development (KICD), the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) are unlawful and prejudicial to school-going children.

According to Havi, the Ministry of Education has rolled out a curriculum for basic education purporting to phase out and replace the 8-4-4 system  through sessional papers and policy instead of legislation.

He argues that there’s no identifiable document or instrument upon which the CBC curriculum can be traced as one developed in the manner set out in section 73 and 74 of the Basic Education Act NO. 14 2013 as read together with section 4 of the KICD Act No.4 OF 2013.

Havi says that there is wide public outcry in the manner in which the CBC curriculum has been imported from other jurisdictions without due process of the laws applied in basic education.

“In the absence of all stakeholders’ involvement, children are forced to make career choices before acquiring knowledge and general learning necessary to inform selection of pathways in education and training when they lack the capacity to do so,” reads the affidavit.

“An order of injunction be and is hereby made restraining the government-Ministry of Education from further implementing the CBC in place of the existing 8-4-4 system.”

According to Magoha, CBC focuses on the environment where the children are, and the assignments are supposed to bear in mind the different challenges that the students have.

Magoha termed the critique of the new curriculum as “malicious”, asserting that the government is fully backing the execution of the CBC.

“Let us not allow busy bodies and politicians to divert us. Why would you think that we are not working behind the curtains to ensure that the transition is smooth?” he posed.

The CS rubbished concerns by parents that CBC books are expensive, saying that the government had already procured learning materials.

The new 2-6-3-3 system unveiled in 2017 to replace the 8-4-4 is yet to be fully embraced.

CBC advocates the use of locally available resources to encourage innovation, originality, imagination and creativity in carrying out tasks.

It is also designed to connect with Vision 2030 besides linking us with the regional countries and the world at large.